River basin planning

Chapter 8. The impact of climate change and
human intervention on water resources
is exemplified by India, where changes in
climate are compounded by rapid urbanisation,
growing population and their associated
water demands, and unsustainable resource
exploitation. In addition, many of India’s major
rivers are impounded along their course for
diverse purposes. Evaluations of existing
and future water resource are essential for
sustainable development and management,
and large-scale hydrological models that
incorporate anthropogenic influences can be
critical for such assessments. Outputs from
these models can inform water planners,
managers and policy-makers of the potential
scale of water deficits or surpluses, and
identify specific areas of concern. This chapter
discusses these models and why they are
important, and presents an example application
of one model in the Narmada river basin
in India.