Assessing water demand - supply imbalances in continental India

Abstract

Water has become a central issue in changing climate due to global warming. Assessment of its demand and supply in a region in view of their balance is very important to sustain humanity and ecosystem. Water demand and supply in large Indian continental basins have been calculated and analyzed for the balance between them applying a hydrological model. The capability of the model to simulate runoff for various catchments selected from Indian Subcontinent is also investigated. A simple sensitivity analysis was carried out to determine the relative importance of the variables used in the model. Impact of finer spatial resolution in the model to the simulation of runoff of large basins has been studied. Finally, basins' vulnerable in respect to water stress and responsible factors have been identified.