River interlinking projects in India may aggravate water stress: Study
river interlinking projects, designed to address the country's increasing droughts and floods, may inadvertently worsen water stress and disrupt monsoon patterns, according to a study published in the journal Nature. The research used several techniques, including regional climate models and reanalysis data, to shed light on the intricate web of hydro-meteorological consequences that could be unleashed by these massive infrastructure projects.
The researchers, including those from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay and Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM), Pune incorporated atmospheric variables, accounting for common drivers such as the El Nno-Southern Oscillation (ENSO).
The analysis focused specifically on the summer monsoon season, a crucial period for India's water cycle and agriculture. The study revealed intricate causal pathways between river basins driven by land-atmosphere feedbacks.
These feedback loops create connections between land variables, including soil moisture, and influence the moisture content of the air, temperature, and precipitation in different basins.
Certain river basins were identified as «donor basins» with more outgoing links, while others were labeled «recipient basins» with a higher number of incoming links.
This classification depends on the net transfer of moisture through atmospheric pathways, indicating that some basins contribute moisture, while others receive it.
The study noted both positive and negative land-atmosphere feedbacks between river basins.
