Analysis of climatic parameters in estimating water balance of a semi-arid watershed
Student name: Ms Mamta Mehra
Guide: Dr Devesh Sharma
Year of completion: 2009
Host Organisation: The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI)
Supervisor (Host Organisation): Dr Shresth Tayal
Abstract: This paper presents a modeling approach to investigate the impact of climate change on present and future water balance of Bidadi Watershed in Karnataka State, India, using The Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model. Mandatory spatial data-set used, includes DEM (for watershed delineation), Land Use and Soil shape files (for HRU analysis). Baseline climatic data of 11 years (1990-2000) was taken for the assessment of present water balance of Bidadi Watershed. For the assessment of climate change impact in near future 3 IPCC scenarios were used namely: A1, A1B, and B1for two condition, one at global scale and second at Indian scale for3 time series;( 2020-2030),( 2040-2050), and (2080-2090) . Interpretation of the results based on present water balance, describes that a significant amount of the precipitation gets lost in terms of ET. Also results from the 3 scenarios describes that the precipitation is very likely to increase by volume in near future with greater impact for A1 scenario and lesser for the B1 scenario. Data validation was not possible in the present study because of the lack of the discharged data at basin level. Need for a good watershed management plan is proposed for the Bidadi Watershed.
Key Words: Climate Change, Water Balance, Watershed, SWAT, DEM, HRU, IPCC Scenarios, ET
