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Application of hydrologic and hydraulic methods to calculate the environmental flow requirements of the Chaliyar river

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Abstract

River flow is closely linked to survival of human cultures, the economies providing sustainable livelihoods, and the general well-being of the society. The concept of environmental flows has been globally accepted and efforts are being made worldwide to restore and maintain riverine ecosystems. Assessment of environmental flow requirement of rivers is in an infancy stage in India; this has not been done for most of the rivers including those flowing west to the Western Ghats. In this study, the environmental flow (EF) requirements of the Chaliyar River, a major river flowing westwards of the Western Ghats (WG) in Kerala, India, were estimated using hydrologic and hydraulic methods. This was done using the Indicators of Hydrologic Alterations (IHA), and the Wetted Perimeter (WP) methods. Three major sub-basins of the Chaliyar namely, Chaliyar Main Stream, Punnapuzha, and Karimpuzha were considered in this study. This study concentrated on the low flow periods. Environmental Flow Components (EFC), and Flow Duration Curve (FDC) from the IHA, and Critical Minimum Flow (CMF) from the wetted perimeter method were compared in this study. The environmental flow requirements for the low flow season for the three streams, namely, Chaliyar Main, Punnapuzha, and Karimpuzha, computed using the IHA are 1.32, 1.33, and 0.59 m3/s respectively. The corresponding values obtained by the wetted perimeter method are 1.37, 1.25, and 0.75 m3/s respectively. This indicates that the results obtained using these two methods are in good agreement with each other.

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Data availability

The precipitation datasets used for the current study are available in the IMD repository, https://dsp.imdpune.gov.in/. The temperature, relative humidity, and evapotranspiration datasets used for the current study are available in the Center for Water Resources Development and Planning (CWRDM), Kozhikode, Kerala, India, and are available upon request. The discharge datasets used for the current study are available in the Central Water Commission (CWC) of India repository, https://indiawris.gov.in/wris/#/. The Digital Elevation Model (DEM) and Satellite image used for the current study are available in the United States Geological Survey (USGS) repository, https://earthexplorer.usgs.gov/. The soil map used for the current study is available in Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) repository, https://www.fao.org/land-water/land/land-governance/land-resources-planning-toolbox/category/details/en/c/1026564/.

Abbreviations

EF:

Environmental Flow

WG:

Western Ghats

IHA:

Indicators of Hydrologic Alterations

EFC:

Environmental Flow Components

FDC:

Flow Duration Curve

CMF:

Critical Minimum Flow

CWC:

Central Water Commission

EMC:

Environmental Management Class

IFIM:

Instream flow incremental methodology

SWAT:

Soil and Water Assessment Tool

DEM:

Digital Elevation Model

NSE:

Nash–Sutcliffe model efficiency coefficient

PBIAS:

Percentage bias

ASTER-GDEM:

Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer—Global Digital elevation Model

DSMW:

Digital Soil Map of the World

FAO:

Food and Agricultural Organization

UNESCO:

United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization

RVA:

Range of variability approach

TNC:

The Nature Conservancy

WFD:

Water Framework Directive

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Civil Engineering, National Institute of Technology Calicut, Kozhikode, Kerala, India

    V. V. Sachin Ramesh & Santosh G. Thampi

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  1. V. V. Sachin Ramesh
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  2. Santosh G. Thampi
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection and analysis were performed by Sachin Ramesh V V, and Santosh G Thampi. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Sachin Ramesh V V and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to V. V. Sachin Ramesh.

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Ramesh, V.V.S., Thampi, S.G. Application of hydrologic and hydraulic methods to calculate the environmental flow requirements of the Chaliyar river. Environ Earth Sci 82, 166 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-023-10850-1

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