Evaluation of Water Resources in a Complex River Basin Using Water Accounting Plus: A Case Study of the Mahi River Basin in India

Pooja Patle, Ashutosh Sharma

2023Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management11 citationsDOI

Abstract

Accurate and well-categorized information on water supply, demand, consumption, and withdrawals is necessary for the assessment and management of water resources. In this context, the Water Accounting Plus (WA+) framework is a valuable platform for quantifying water flows. By utilizing remote sensing datasets, WA+ enables it to quantify water flows in a basin and compute hydrological processes while considering the impact of land use. To understand the water inflows, outflows, consumption, withdrawals, and storage variations of water resources, we applied the WA+ framework to a complex river basin, namely the Mahi River basin. Using blue and green water estimation, we segregated the irrigated and rainfed areas and computed the hydrological processes at the pixel level using the WaterPix model. We also calculated performance indicators to illustrate the state of water resources in the basin. Our analysis shows that the Mahi River basin is water-stressed and mainly relies on groundwater (GW) for irrigation. The average exploitable and available water flows from 2012 to 2020 were 34.07 Billion Cubic meter (BCM)/year and 30.38 BCM/year, respectively, and the average outflow was 20.65 BCM/year. The average vertical recharge and withdrawal of GW were 17.47 and 21 BCM/year, respectively, while surface water (SW) withdrawal was very low and concentrated in only a few areas. According to the results of the flow and GW sheets, 95% of the utilized flow came from GW, indicating a high dependency on GW. A 25% depletion of water storage was observed during the study period. These results indicate that overexploitation of GW for irrigation and depletion of water storage are the main problems in the Mahi River basin. Our study can help local and national authorities to identify areas with poor water management practices and develop appropriate water management plans and schemes

Topics & Concepts

Hydrology (agriculture)Groundwater rechargeStructural basinEnvironmental scienceWater resourcesContext (archaeology)Drainage basinGroundwaterIrrigationSurface waterWater balanceHydrological modellingWater storageWater resource managementWater useWater supplyAquiferGeologyEnvironmental engineeringGeographyClimatologyCartographyGeomorphologyGeotechnical engineeringPaleontologyInletEcologyBiologyFlood Risk Assessment and ManagementHydrology and Watershed Management StudiesWater resources management and optimization