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Contribution of Baseflow to River Streamflow: Study on Nepal’s Bagmati and Koshi Basins

  • Water Resources and Hydrologic Engineering
  • Published:
KSCE Journal of Civil Engineering Aims and scope

Abstract

Understanding the role of baseflow is important for efficient river management. Hydrograph analysis separates baseflow from varying streamflow hydrographs. Separation of baseflow from streamflow and its analysis are crucial to flow regulations, water quantity, quality, and supply, and habitat. This study attempted to identify the annual and monthly contributions of baseflow on streamflow in Nepal. For this, the three techniques of WHAT, BFLOW, and HYSEP were implemented to separate baseflow from streamflow in two watersheds (the two basins). As a result, baseflow’s contribution is high in the post-monsoon (October and November) and winter seasons (December-February). The Baseflow Index (BFI) slightly decreases in value in the pre-monsoon (March-May) season; in the monsoon season (June-sept), the range of the BFI is at its lowest. As baseflow’s contribution exceeds 45 percent in all seasons, proper assessment of baseflow is crucial to efficient management of river ecology.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dept. of Construction and Disaster Prevention Engineering, Kyungpook National University, Gyeongbuk, 37224, Korea

    Shiksha Bastola, Yeonjeong Seong, Daeeop Lee, Ilro Youn, Sewook Oh & Younghun Jung

  2. Dept. of Civil & Environmental Engineering, Incheon National University, Incheon, 22012, Korea

    Gyewoon Choi & Dongwoo Jang

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  1. Shiksha Bastola
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  2. Yeonjeong Seong
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  3. Daeeop Lee
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  4. Ilro Youn
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  5. Sewook Oh
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  7. Gyewoon Choi
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  8. Dongwoo Jang
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Correspondence to Dongwoo Jang.

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Bastola, S., Seong, Y., Lee, D. et al. Contribution of Baseflow to River Streamflow: Study on Nepal’s Bagmati and Koshi Basins. KSCE J Civ Eng 22, 4710–4718 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12205-018-0149-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12205-018-0149-9

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