A Real-Time Decision Support System for River Basin Management

MATEC Web of Conferences 57, 05002 (2016) DOI: 10.1051/ matecconf/20165705002 ICAET- 2016 A Real-Time Decision Support System for River Basin Management Ayushi Vyas 1, a 2 and Siby John 1,2 PEC University of Technology, Environmental Department, Chandigarh Abstract. The applications of computer technology to analysis of the rainfall-runoff process and the hydrological dynamics of natural rivers have greatly expanded in the past few years. A large number of general purpose programs and a few programs designed for specific application have been developed and applied to hydrologic engineering problems. This paper briefly describes the study of climate change effects on the hydrological dynamics of the Satluj and Beas river system using computer models like HEC- RTS (Hydrologic Engineering Center- Real Time Simulation). It also presents the use of real time data collection and processing on a GIS platform so as to derive a real time decision support system. Keywords: DSS, hydrology, modeling, hydrologic model. 1 Introduction Hydrologic engineering has traditionally been one of the areas which required management and massive amount of data. With the help of the analytical capability provided by the use of computers only, hydrologic engineers can continue to respond to the ever-increasing demands for more comprehensive and more complex hydrologic studies [1]. Simulation speed and data visualisation are of great significance to decision making. Real-time interaction during the simulation process is also very important for dealing with different conditions and for making timely decisions [2]. Currently, the major challenge for decision-makers and stakeholders in the water sector is to understand the effects of global warming and to determine where and how regions and sectors are vulnerable and to implement appropriate adaptation measures. Considering the recent technological and methodological developments, this study deals with the climate change effects on the hydrological dynamics of river system including the real time data acquisition. This research provides a conceptual basis for real-time multipurpose data assembling, evaluating, modeling and visualisation towards the operationalisation of decisions. Turning field observations into useful real-time decision support information is demonstrated based on a hydrological example of Integrated Water Resource Management. Decision Support Systems (IWRM-DSS) based on a virtual environment are becoming a popular platform in watershed simulation and management. By carrying out simulation and verification of hydrological models of river basin in HEC-RTS, a continuous a monitoring of runoff level is being made. A real time decision support system for the river system using GIS and computer model is developed and made functional. 2 Study Area The study area is Satluj and Beas basin as depicted in the figure 1 below. 2.1 The Satluj It has its source in one of the westerly Mansarovar lake in Tibet located at 30°20’N and 81°25’E at an elevation of 4633 meters above sea level. Satluj is an antecedent stream. After originating, the Satluj follows a northwesterly course along the slopes of Kailash Mountain before entering the Shipki La. Thence it bends southwest and it enters the Shivalik foothills near Nangal. A few miles above, the Bhakra dam has been constructed across the river. At this point, the river flows with northwest-southeast orientation through the Jaswan dun between two ranges of the Shivalik hills in Ropar district. At Ropar it pierces through the hills and enters the plain proper, and here it takes a sharp westward turn. The Satluj separates the Bist Doab in the north from the Malwa tract in the south. At Harike it is joined by the Beas. Of the total length of about 1450 kms, the Satluj flows for about 1050 kms in the east and drains about 25,900 sq.kms of area. 2.2 The Beas Ayushi Vyas: © The Authors, published by EDP Sciences. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). MATEC Web of Conferences 57, 05002 (2016) DOI: 10.1051/ matecconf/20165705002 ICAET- 2016 Beas rises from the southern face of Rohtang Pass in the Kullu district. After its hill journey it enters the Punjab plain near Mirthal where it is joined by the Chakki stream. The Beas joins the Satluj at Harike after flowing over a hundred and fifty kilometers, separating the upper Bari Doab from the Bist Doab. Before the sudden westward turn of the Satluj, the Beas was a big river, flowing separately to join the Ravi some distance south of Multan. At that time it traversed through a large part of the Punjab plain. At present Beas is a comparatively small river which is only about 460 kms long and lies entirely within the eastern territory. Its total catchment area is about 20,000sq.kms. Figure 1. Satluj and Beas river basin. 3 Model Concept 3.1. Hydrologic Modeling Hydrological modeling is a tool used to estimate the basin’s hydrological response due to precipitation [3]. The objective of hydrological modeling is to gain a better understanding of the hydrologic phenomena operating in a watershed and of how changes in the watershed may affect these phenomena [4]. They are also valuable for studying the potential impacts of changes in climate. Runoff is an indication of availability of water. Generally, the reservoir inflow is deducted as a byproduct of the reservoir balance. The recent approach uses remote sensed data facilitate modeling activities of the flow using a hydrological model [13]. Hydrologic model can be classified into three main categories which are lumped, semi-distributed and distributed models. The model uses several components to simulate the hydrological behavior of the basin [5]. These hydrological elements use mathematical functions to describe the physical processes in the watershed. Figure2. The gridded view of Satluj- Beas river basin generated to analyze runoff by initial and constant loss model. Precipitation on the pervious surfaces is subject to losses. The initial and constant-rate loss model is included to account for the cumulative losses. The underlying concept of the initial and constant-rate loss model is that the maximum potential rate of precipitation loss, fc, is constant throughout an event. Thus, if pt is the mean areal precipitation depth during a time interval t to t+Δt, the excess, pet, during the interval is given by: pet = pt - fc if pt > fc 0 otherwise. Precipitation loss is found for each computation time interval, and is subtracted from the mean areal precipitation depth for that interval. The remaining depth is referred to as precipitation excess [14]. This depth is considered uniformly distributed over a watershed area, so it represents a volume of runoff as precipitation excess & represents volume of runoff [6]. To use the ModClark model, a gridded representation of the watershed is d (...truncated)