Impact of Climate Change on Hydrological components of Indian River Basins - A Comprehensive Review

Author: Sonali Swagatika, Jagadish Chandra Paul, Ambika Prasad Sahu, Sanjay Kumar Raul and Dwarika Mohan Das

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Abstract

The world is facing a water crisis due to unexpected transformations in the hydrologic cycle, which is the primary reason for any natural disaster. This happens due to the growing population and fast urbanization, which hampers the organisation and administration of water resources sustainably.Climate change adversely affects an area's ecosystem, wildlife, agriculture, etc., thereby altering the socio-economiclife of many. Most of India's people dependon agriculture either directly or indirectly. The productivity from agriculture is immensely decreasing due to the impact of climate variations nationwide.In the twenty-first century, climate change has become a major concern which is mostly prevalent by the human interventions. Climate change may be a global phenomenon, but its impacts are local. Rapid industrialization and urbanisation in India are responsible for massive increase in water demand, leading to a water crisis that is becoming prevalent as the surface and groundwater resources areshrinking due to climate change and other hydrological parameters. A larger number of studies have been reported on climate change's impact on water resources, but the understanding of the effects of climate change on India's river basins is still incomplete from an interdisciplinary perspective. In order to lessen the impact of climate change on river basins, it is thus appropriate to assess recent research and suggest potential topics for future study. This paper comprehensively reviews the significance of climate change on hydrological balance of river basins of India.

Keywords

Climate change, climate projection, global warming, water resources

Conclusion

Crop productivity and water resources are being impacted by climate change at an alarming rate.Most of the river basins show an increasing trend in rainfall, temperature and runoff. Increased precipitation and surface runoff has been increasing the intensity of flood. Groundwater is found to behave differently as there is an uprisein some cases under RCP 4.5 scenarios and a decreasing trend in a few instancesunderRCP 8.5. Some basins showoveruse of groundwater.The uneconomical use of groundwater is likely to worsen due to declining surface water resources in many regions.Irrigation for agricultural use isfound to bemore sensitive to climate change.Hence, water-saving irrigation practices would be one of the available techniques to address climate change-related water shortage and food security challenges. It is also recommended to use specific measures like changes in cropping patterns and breeding, and innovative technologies which require less water consumption in the agricultural sector. Decision-making plays a vital role in understanding sustainable risk management, which must be integrated into climate change improvement. Given various climate models and emission scenarios, the current summary may be able to give decision-makers useful information on rainfall and temperature trends over Indian river basins. In addition, a review of prior studies aids researchers in identifying climate change-related research questions.

References

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How to cite this article

Sonali Swagatika, Jagadish Chandra Paul, Ambika Prasad Sahu, Sanjay Kumar Raul and Dwarika Mohan Das (2022). Impact of Climate Change on Hydrological components of Indian River Basins - A Comprehensive Review. Biological Forum – An International Journal, 14(4): 1334-1341.