River Basin Ecohydrology in the Indian Sub-Continent: Sustainable Strategies and Sustenance provides a multidisciplinary approach that focuses on conservation strategies, water quality management in the eco-regions, catchment management practices, estuaries, preservation of in-stream habitat populations, and natural /bioengineering techniques for the sustainable management of ecological resources in the Indian sub-continent. The book provides a unique platform for readers from branches of science and technology, including engineering sciences, agricultural sciences, biogeochemical sciences, hydrogeochemistry, toxicological sciences, social sciences, environmental policy, and governance, etc. to exchange ideas and information at multiple levels on sustainable water management, degradation of marine quality and indicators of ecological degradation. The book's contributors provide impressive and comprehensive information on different management strategies for sustainable restoration of aquatic ecological systems covering vital aspects of hydrogeochemical and geoenvironmental parameters. This book aims to provide a "platform" for scientists and environmental researchers/planners to discuss the environmental degradation, spatial heterogeneity on water quality and aquatic species, methodological approaches on sustainable management of biodiversity, etc. - Presents an extensive collection of eco-hydrological changes in the river basin driven by both nature and anthropological factors - Provides state of the art modeling, data analysis methodologies for complex socio – ecological complexity applied in the Indian Sub-Continent - Includes specific cases of ecohydrology in the river basin, especially from the Indian Sub-Continent

From time immemorial the Bengal Delta had been an important maritime des- nation for traders from all parts of the world. The actual location of the port of call varied from time to time in line with the natural hydrographic changes. From the early decades of the second millennium AD, traders from the European con- nent also joined the traders from the Arab countries, who had been the Forerunners in maritime trading with India. Daring traders and fortune seekers from Denmark, Holland, Belgium and England arrived at different ports of call along the Hooghly river. The river had been, in the meantime, losing its pre-eminence as the main outlet channel of the sacred Ganga into the Bay of Bengal, owing to a shift of ?ow towards east near Rajmahal into the Padma, which had been so long, carried very small part of the large volume of ?ow. On a cloudy afternoon on August 24, 1690 the British seafarer Job Charnock rested his oars at Kolkata and started a new chapter in the life of a sleepy village, bordering the Sunderbans which was ‘a tangled region of estuaries, rivers and water courses, enclosing a vast number of islands of various shapes and sizes. ’ and infested with a large variety of wild animals. In the language of the British Nobel Laureate (1907) Rudyard Kipling (1865–1936). ???? ???? Thus the midday halt of Charnock grew a city.

A part of the Water Resources Management series, this book is divided in three sections. The section on Nepal discusses how its water resources could be utilized to benefit people of the Ganga basin. The section on India talks about the development and management of water resources at the beginning of the third millennium. The section on Bangladesh talks about how water resources management is a major challenge in the country.

The Mekong River Basin: Ecohydrological Complexity from Catchment to Coast, Volume Three presents real facts, data and predictions for quantifying human-induced changes throughout the Mekong watershed, including its estuaries and coasts, and proposes solutions to decrease or mitigate the negative effect and enable sustainable development. This is the first work to link socio–ecological interaction study over the whole Mekong River basin through the lens of ecohydrology. Each chapter is written by a leading expert, with coverage on climate change, groundwater, land use, flooding drought, biodiversity and anthropological issues. Human activities are enormous in the whole watershed and are still increasing throughout the catchment, with severe negative impacts on natural resources are emerging. Among these activities, hydropower dams, especially a series of 11 dams in China, are the most critical as they generate massive changes throughout the system, including in the delta and to the livelihoods of millions of people and they threaten sustainability. - Presents an extensive collection of eco-hydrological changes in the river basin driven by both nature and anthropological factors - Provides state of the art modeling, data analysis methodologies for complex socio-ecological complexity applied in the Mekong river basin - Includes specific cases of ecohydrology in the river basin, especially from the Mekong delta

Dirty, Sacred Rivers explores South Asia's increasingly urgent water crisis, taking readers on a journey through North India, Nepal and Bangladesh, from the Himalaya to the Bay of Bengal. The book shows how rivers, traditionally revered by the people of the Indian subcontinent, have in recent decades deteriorated dramatically due to economic progress and gross mismanagement. Dams and ill-advised embankments strangle the Ganges and its sacred tributaries. Rivers have become sewage channels for a burgeoning population. To tell the story of this enormous river basin, environmental journalist Cheryl Colopy treks to high mountain glaciers with hydrologists; bumps around the rough embankments of India's poorest state in a jeep with social workers; and takes a boat excursion through the Sundarbans, the mangrove forests at the end of the Ganges watershed. She lingers in key places and hot spots in the debate over water: the megacity Delhi, a paradigm of water mismanagement; Bihar, India's poorest, most crime-ridden state, thanks largely to the blunders of engineers who tried to tame powerful Himalayan rivers with embankments but instead created annual floods; and Kathmandu, the home of one of the most elegant and ancient traditional water systems on the subcontinent, now the site of a water-development boondoggle. Colopy's vivid first-person narrative brings exotic places and complex issues to life, introducing the reader to a memorable cast of characters, ranging from the most humble members of South Asian society to engineers and former ministers. Here we find real-life heroes, bucking current trends, trying to find rational ways to manage rivers and water. They are reviving ingenious methods of water management that thrived for centuries in South Asia and may point the way to water sustainability and healthy rivers.

This book offers a unique collection of inter- and multidisciplinary studies on river systems. Rivers have been the prime source of sustenance since the advent of civilization and river systems often form the basis for agriculture, transport, water, and land for domestic, commercial, and industrial activities, fostering economic prosperity. A river basin is a basic geographical and climatological unit within which the vagaries of natural processes act and manifest themselves at different spatio-temporal scales. Even if compared side-by-side, no two river basins respond to natural processes in the same way and thus, it has long been recognized that each river basin is unique. Hence, any developmental activity or conservation effort has to be designed and implemented to match each unique river basin. With the burgeoning population and increasing dependency on natural resources, understanding and maintaining river systems has become increasingly important. This book provides a varied reference work on and unprecedented guidelines for conducting and implementing research on river basins, and for managing their ecological development.

India is endowed with varied topographical features, such as high mountains, extensive plateaus, and wide plains traversed by mighty rivers. Divided into four sections this book provides a comprehensive overview of water resources of India. A detailed treatment of all major river basins is provided. This is followed by a discussion on major uses of water in India. Finally, the closing chapters discuss views on water management policy for India.

Proceedings of the International Seminar on 'Water Crisis in the Indian Subcontinent : Issues and Challenges', held at North-Eastern Hill University during 23-25 November 2009.

Papers presented at the International Seminar and the 13th Annual Conference of Indian Institute of Geomorphologists, organised by the Department of Geography, held at Kolkata.