An Outline of the Project Abstract
(for submission of preliminary project report)
1. Project Name:
“Hydrology Project Phase- III: Approach towards Integrated Water Resources
Management”
2. Sectorial Area:
Water Resources Management
3. Total Financial Outlay:
Rs 3000 Crore
4. Details of the External Development Agencies and Amounts Sought:
Loan for an amount of about Rs 2600 Crore
5. Financial Arrangement
Project Component
A. Consolidation and expansion
of Hydrological Information
System (HIS)
B. Water
Resources
Development, Management
and Planning
C. Real-time Decision Support
Systems
D. Institutional Strengthening
and Institution Building
TOTAL
6. Project Duration
Project Cost by Component and Financer (Crore INR)
World Bank
Government
Total
1100
100
1200
600
100
700
500
100
600
400
100
500
2600
400
3000
Eight Years
7. Location of Project:
All States of India requesting participation: impact will
be throughout India as central government agencies will participate
8. Previous Phases:
Hydrology Project (supported by World Bank)
Hydrology Project Phase II (funded by World Bank Loan)
9. Statutory Clearances Required:
Not applicable
10. Statutory Clearances Obtained:
Not applicable
11. Feasibility Studies:
None
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12. Implementation Agencies:
Ministry
of
Water
Resources
(Lead
implementing agency), Water Resources Departments of Participating States, Other
Central and State Government Bodies
13. Basic Design of the Project
13.1
Rationale
Hydrology Project Phase-I and Phase-II have been a World Bank funded Projects and
focused on establishment of Hydrological Information System (HIS) and increased
geographical coverage and analytical usage of facilities created under the first phase of the
Project respectively. Phase I of the project ran from 1995 to 2003, while Phase II has run
from 2006 and is scheduled for completion in 2014.Hydrology Projects have covered 13
States and eight (8)Central Organisations across in India. The focus has been on establishing
improved data collection networks and improved data handling processes to improvement
management of key information.
Under HP-II, Central and State organisations procured State of the Art equipment,
tools and technology. Following key items/ applications have been developed for the first
time in the country:
i) Real-time Hydro-meterological Data Acquisition Systems were procured and installed
in several parts of the country, which provide data through means like satellites,
telephony or V-SAT.
ii) Real-Time Decision Support System (RT-DSS) has been developed for flood control
and reservoirs operations in Bhakra Beas Management Board and in Maharashtra.
iii) Decision Support Systems- Planning (DSS-P) for surface & ground water planning,
irrigation management, drought monitoring management and conjunctive use of
surface water & ground water etc. have also been developed
iv) Real-time Water Quality equipment has also been successfully installed at 10
different locations on river Ganga and measures upto 10 parameters.
v) The Pilot Phase of the Aquifer Mapping Programme of MoWR has seen the
application of Heliborne survey for aquifer mapping for the first time in the country.
This technique is just a few years old and India joins the league of few nations like
USA, Netherlands, Denmark, Canada, Australia etc.
While much of India has been covered in Phases I and II of the project, there are
large northern States that have not yet been involved. These include the States in the Ganga
and Brahmaputra Basins (including much of Madhya Pradesh).Several States/Central
organisations have now proposed that the applications developed under the HP-II needed
to be upscaled for the entire country, including those States which have not been covered
under Hydrology Projects. Many of these States, viz. North-eastern States, West Bengal,
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Haryana, U.P., Jharkhand etc. have conveyed their keenness to participate in the Phase III of
the Project. The States/Central organisations were of the view that the HIS and their
consequent applications like DSS etc. developed under HP-II need to be replicated
throughout the country, so as to bring the entire nation at par.
Any new phase of Hydrology Project should be closely aligned with National Water
Policy, Five Year Plans etc. The National Water Policy (2012) has identified basic principles
for water resources management in India. These include management within national
perspectives, equity and social justice to inform use and allocation of water, sustainability of
water use, managed as a community resource, efficient water use, recognition of
environmental needs and recognising interlinking of water quality and water quantity. All
these point to a need to develop Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) within a
river basin unit. Hydrology Project Phase III would also take into account these principles
with the project Development Objectives (PDO).There are a number of areas where a
further project might have a role to support:
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Development of HIS in non-Hydrology Project States
Continued support for development of HIS in Hydrology Project States
Introduction of new techniques and technologies to participating Agencies
Continued support for central agencies.
Continued support for the existing Hydrology Project Agencies is needed, as
sustainability without external support has not yet been firmly established in many of the
States. Some of the developments within HP-II (such as the Hydrological Design Aids; the
Decision Support System for Planning; the surface water and groundwater database
systems) are areas where continued support would prove to be very important to guarantee
and consolidate improvements made under HP-II.
For sustainability, it seems appropriate to concentrate on development of the
capacity and focus of central agencies to provide technical support to the State Agencies –
through training programmes, advice on matters relating to observations (networks,
equipment, Standard Operating Procedures etc.) and data management, and also to advise
regarding appropriate solutions to water resources management issues. Further, cross
learning from participating States would not only benefit the new States, but would also
help the Old States to consolidate their gains.
13.2
Proposed Project Activities
India is under water stress since the early 2000’s, and its main challenge is to
produce more food with less water; other important issues concern Water Quality, reservoir
sedimentation, climate and land use change impacts on water resources availability, etc.
Thus many States and Central organisations have submitted their requests to take up
several activities under the next phase of Hydrology Project. Most of the activities are
directly or indirectly focussed on the development of Integrated Water Resources
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Management (IWRM). Some of the activities that can be taken up under the next phase of
the Project are given as below:
A.
Consolidation and expansion of HIS
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B.
Extend HIS to all non-HP States of India including the procurement and installation of
equipment, software and data sets, development of HIS infrastructure including
State and Regional Data Centres.
Upgrading and expansion of existing HIS networks, advanced monitoring equipment,
additional groundwater observation wells.
Upgrading of existing HIS monitoring stations with Real-time Data Acquisition
(RTDAS) systems; develop mobile-based applications for addressing flood forecasting
and flood risks.
Installation of additional RT-WQMS stations in important surface water bodies for
the assessment of water quality in polluted river stretches;
Rehabilitation and upgrading of WQ laboratories established under HP-I (15 to 20
years old).
Introduce web-based data processing (including mobile applications) throughout
India through e-SWIS, e-GEMS and e-WQIS and enhance the capabilities and
functionalities of these software as per requirement.
Include the monitoring of water use and water demand data in HIS, as well as
agricultural and irrigation related data
Ground-water exploration to delineate aquifers
Improvement/Strengthening of India-WRIS portal to provideweb services to other
portals
Water Resources Development, Management and Planning
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Objective:
Move from data to information to application; integration of tools
developed in HP-I and HP-II in design, planning and operational practices throughout
the country and scaling-up the utilization of HIS data for IWRM and planning.
Scale-up the application of DSS-Planning to other river basins and promote greater
use of these systems for water resources planning and management issues, including
surface water and groundwater development and planning, irrigation system
management, drought monitoring and management, conjunctive use of surface
water and groundwater, optimization of reservoir operations, etc.
Pilot studies for catchment-wide water resources assessment including actual water
use, return flows, impact of climate change, environmental flow needs, appropriate
allocation of water resources in the catchment, development of alternatives for
improved water management in the catchment, thereby supporting IWRM.
Introduce Web-Based Hydrological Design Aids (HDA) to all State SW agencies in
order to improve current design practices of water resources infrastructure;
expansion of tools in the HDA toolbox, e.g. with hydrological models.
Carry out reservoir sedimentation studies, reservoir bathymetric surveys and river
sediment load monitoring.
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C.
Impact of climate change on water resources.
Address multiple issues through Purpose Driven Studies
Support to CGWB and to State Groundwater Departments to shift from
“Groundwater Development” to “Groundwater Management” including: Aquifer
Mapping, Participatory Groundwater Management, Technological upgrading, etc.
Introduction and application of different groundwater modelling software.
Pilot studies to develop methodologies for water quality assessment, including
coordinated and collaborative laboratory improvement programs and improved
scientific interpretation and reporting of water quality data.
Pilot studies for increasing Water Use Efficiency.
Pilot Studies to develop Aquifer Management Plans
Studies to determine Environment Flow.
Development of Aquifer Information & Management Systems by the State
Governments
Census of Major & Medium Water Resources Projects and establishment of an assest
management service.
Preparation reference Evapo-transpiration Atlas for country.
Development of Aquatic life assessment in major rivers of India
Development of android based application for hydrological observation site
management and data updation.
Improvement in Glacial Lake Monitoring and forecasting of unusual weather effects.
Development of standard packages for minor distribution networks and structures to
speed up execution.
Real-time Decision Support Systems
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Implement RTDSS systems for i) flood forecasting and flood management, ii) WR
system operation and iii) drought management for major water resources systems,
irrigation canal system operations, reservoir operations, etc.
Utilization of real-time data monitoring and data processing (RTDAS/RTDSS) for
improved reservoir management, canal operation, optimization of hydropower
generation, flood forecasting, and flood and drought management, with particular
attention to inter-state rivers.
Rationalization of the operation and management of medium and major irrigation
systems through RTDAS/RTDSS systems for improved water use efficiency,
automation of tube well operations, etc.
Introduction and exploration of Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA)
systems for optimal irrigation system management
Introduction of flood plain mapping, flood inundation modeling, flood risk zoning
and flood vulnerability mapping
Introduction of dam break analysis, flood modeling and flood forecasting
Explore the feasibility of using Meteosat/INSAT satellite based estimation of
precipitation (based on Cold Cloud Temperatures) and actual evapo-transpiration, in
conjunction with real-time field measurements of rainfall and other hydro5
meteorological parameters, as input to flood forecasting and drought monitoring &
management systems.
D.
Institutional Strengthening and Institution Building
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Establishment of a permanent HIS Coordination Secretariat (HIS-CS) in MoWR
(CWC/CGWB) to coordinate HIS activities across HP-States beyond Hydrology
Project.
Development of the capacity and focus of Central Agencies to provide technical
support to State Agencies – through training programmes, advice on matters relating
to observations, data management etc.
Development of Central and State Water Resources Information Centres (merging of
SW and GW branches of HIS, including Data Centres)
Support to the establishment of River Basin Organizations (RBO) for selected major
river basins
Provision of field equipment, GPS, GIS data sets, toposheets, Data Centres (buildings
and hardware/ software), vehicles and office infrastructure.
Establishment of Hydrological Observation Training institute, including current meter
calibration facilities (proposed by CWC) and Centre of Expertise in hydrometric
monitoring equipment to advise all monitoring agencies on appropriate choice of
equipment, its specification, and appropriate management and maintenance
Training programs at various HIS levels, domestic study tours and international study
tours, cross learning from participating States, introduction of HDA, e-SWIS, e-GEMS,
e-WQIS, etc.
Promote data sharing and dissemination, joint data validation and data utilization for
design, planning and management purposes;
Enhance relevance of the HDUG and promote improved dialogue between the data
managers and the data users; support to data user awareness programs
Support to agencies in developing websites enabling easy data access and
dissemination
Sustainability HIS requires to cover all of India in the HIS, improve inter-agency
coordination mechanisms, central data storage, standardization of equipment,
AMCs, and O&M training
Interventions on data sharing and dissemination, joint data validation and data
utilization for design, planning and management purposes, including both
operational and long-range WRD planning;
Integrate HIS with India-WRIS, and create National and State Water Informatics
Centres. Link IMD, CPCB and the Ministry of Agriculture to the India-WRIS platform
to enable complete availability of data on the country’s water resources.
Collaboration with research institutes and private agencies for conducting research
and developed activities for designing of low cost indigenous sensors and other
hydro-meteorological equipment within India
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Incremental staff cost (recurrent cost) for strengthening data collection and data
management services
Technical Assistance and Management Consultancy to support project
implementation and management, fiduciary assistance, and technical support; a MIS
would need to be developed to monitor physical and financial progress of Project
implementation, as well as the monitoring of results and outcomes of the Project.
14. Target Population:
Improved water resources management and improved management of floods that
will follow from the project will benefit the entire population of India.
15. Detailed Action Plan:
Hydrology Project Phase-III
Year
Action Plan
Yr1
HIS Establishment in New States; consolidation of HP-II in Old
States and Central organisations
Yr2
HIS Establishment in New States; consolidation of HP-II in Old
States and Central organisations
HIS Establishment in New States; consolidation of HP-II and
development of applications in Old States and central
organisations
HIS Establishment in New States; consolidation of HP-II and
development of applications in Old States and central
organisations
Consolidation of HIS and Development of Applications in New
States; consolidation of HP-II and extension of development
of applications in Old States and central organisations
Consolidation of HIS and Development of Applications in New
States; consolidation of HP-II and extension of development
of applications in Old States and central organisations.
Yr3
Yr4
Yr5
Yr 6
Yr 7
Yr 8
Consolidation of HIS and Development of Applications in New
States;
consolidation of HP-II
and extension of
development of applications in Old States and central
organisations
Consolidation of HIS and Development of Applications in New
States;
consolidation of HP-II
and extension of
development of applications in Old States and central
organisations
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16. Quantitative and qualitative target indicators: TBD (To be decided)
17. Environmental Sustainability of Project:
The direct environmental impact of the project (the impact of work done under the
project in terms of construction and physical development) will be minimal as little
construction will be involved – some additional buildings around the country (to
accommodate staff and equipment). The potential positive impact of the project on
environment is, however, likely to be very significant: improved knowledge of water
behaviour obtained through improved monitoring and analysis of data will lead to improved
management of natural resources, hence improved ability to monitor the impact of all
development on rivers and groundwater, and development appropriate measures to
mitigate such impacts effectively. Training programmes to be included in the project will be
focused on establishing technical sustainability of the project.
18. Land Acquisition / Re-settlement
Not Applicable
19. Linkage with Similar Projects:
(i)
Information regarding projects in similar areas undertaken previously: Hydrology
Project Phase-I and Phase-II have been World Bank funded Projects and focused on
establishment of Hydrological Information System (HIS) and increased geographical
coverage and analytical usage of facilities created under the first phase of the Project
respectively. Phase I of the project was from 1995 to 2003, while Phase II began in
2006 and has completed on 31st May, 2014.Hydrology Projects have covered 13
States and eight (8) Central Organisations across in India. The focus has been on
establishing improved data collection networks, improved data handling processes
for improvement management of key information, development of Decision Support
Systems in 13 river sub-basins, etc.
(ii)
Does the Project form part of the sectoral strategy umbrella project? No.
20. Finance Plus Elements:
While great steps have been taken under the Hydrology Project towards
establishment of HIS and development of DSS, there is still a significant way to go to make
sure there are sufficient good quality data and decision support systems for the
management of India’s water resources. The value of bringing in experience and knowledge
from rest of the world, providing reliable datafor optimising water resources management
within the country is so great that the importance of furtheringsuch work is hard to overemphasise. Extensive work has also begun in the field of integrated water resources
management across the world. To avoid re-inventing the wheel, it is time to learn from their
experience and bring the latest technology to India. The experience and achievements of
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Hydrology Project, coupled with international best practices, are essentially required for an
integrated approach towards water resources management.
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