Assessment of climate change impact on hydrology of Wangchu River in Bhutan and Raidak River in India | |
| Author | Zam, Phub |
| Call Number | AIT Thesis no.WM-19-10 |
| Subject(s) | Hydrology--India--Raidak River Hydrology--Bhutan--Wangchu River Climatic changes--India--Raidak River Climatic changes--Bhutan--Wangchu River |
| Note | A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Engineering in Water Engineering and Management |
| Publisher | Asian Institute of Technology |
| Abstract | Assessment of climate change impact on the hydrology of transboundary river basin plays an important role in maintaining the water security at individual, national and global level. The objective of this study was to evaluate the impact of climate change on the hydrology of river that flows from Bhutan to India. The river is known as Wangchu River in Bhutan and upon entering India, it is known by a name Raidak. The river is mainly used for hydropower production in Bhutan and supports the two biggest hydropower plant on which the majority of Bhutan’s economic development depends and in India, it is mainly used for agriculture. To evaluate the magnitude of alteration in the hydrological regime of the river, the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) was used for the future flow simulation. Future climate was projected for near (2025-2050) and far (2074-2099) future using an ensemble of three regional climate models (ACCESS, CNRM-CM5 and MPI-ESM-LR) for RCPs (Representative Concentration Pathways): RCP 4.5 (medium emission) and RCP 8.5 (high emission) scenario. The result indicated that the study area would become warmer in future with an increase in temperature by 1.5 ᵒC under RCP 4.5 and 3.6 ᵒC under RCP 8.5. The rainfall in the study area was projected to decrease by 1.90% and 1.38% under RCP 4.5 and RCP 8.5 respectively. Corresponding to projected decrease in rainfall, the flow in river was projected to decrease by 5.77 % under RCP 4.5 and 4.73% under RCP 8.5. Overall, the result indicated that the degree of hydrologic alteration is high especially for the low flows for both Wangchu and Raidak River. |
| Year | 2019 |
| Type | Thesis |
| School | School of Engineering and Technology (SET) |
| Department | Department of Civil and Infrastucture Engineering (DCIE) |
| Academic Program/FoS | Water Engineering and Management (WM) |
| Chairperson(s) | Shrestha, Sangam; |
| Examination Committee(s) | Babel, Mukand Singh;Datta, Avishek; |
| Scholarship Donor(s) | Thai Pipe Scholarship; |
| Degree | Thesis (M.Eng.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 2019 |