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Title: DEVELOPING CAPABILITIES FOR HYDROLOGICAL STUDIES: CONSULTANT'S REPORT IN HYDROLOGIC INSTRUMENTATION

Author
item Bonta, James - Jim

Submitted to: National Institute of Hydrology India
Publication Type: Other
Publication Acceptance Date: 7/15/1996
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary: A month-long consultation was initiated by the National Institute of Hydrology (NIH) located in Roorkee, India in the area of hydrological instrumentation with a scientist from the ARS. The activity was a part of a multimillion dollar United Nation Development Programme project titled, "Developing Capabilities for Hydrologic Studies in NIH". The primary objectives were to suggest a 5- and 15-year plan for the future of the new Hydrologic Instrumentation Division in a report, to interact with scientists, to comment on hydrologic instrumentation aspects of a Rs. six billion (US $173 million) project, and to conduct a 3-day workshop on hydrological instrumentation. After learning of many of India's water-resources problems, long- and short-term recommendations were made to strengthen the NIH research program in the area of hydrologic instrumentation, involving training and future instrument development that would benefit the country of India. A joint project to investigate the feasibility of a new soil-moisture monitoring system is being considered by an Indian and ARS scientist. The system would potentially benefit researchers in the areas of soil-related hydrologic field investigations, remote sensing investigations of soil moisture, and those involved with other hydrologic applications.

Technical Abstract: The National Institute of Hydrology (NIH) located in Roorkee, U.P., India has responsibilities within the Ministry of Water Resources of the Government of India for conducting hydrologic research in India. A month-long consultation was initiated by the NIH in the area of hydrological instrumentation, as part of a multimillion dollar United Nations Development Programme project titled, "Developing Capabilities for Hydrologic Studies in NIH". The primary objectives were to suggest a 5- and 15-year plan for the future of the Hydrologic Instrumentation Division in a report, to interact with scientists, to comment on instrumentation aspects of a Rs. six billion (US $173 million) project, and to conduct a 3-day workshop on hydrological instrumentation. The report written for the NIH/UNDP consisted of 115 pages. In the short-term, suggestions were made to initiate comparison studies on hydrologic instrumentation, complete laboratory and field testing of a new Indian rai gage, follow through with planned training for World Bank project participants, complement the NIH library with some materials, and initiate rain gage studies with a rain-gage test facility. Long-term suggestions included training of Indian hydrologists and technicians, fully developing possible NIH World Bank project responsibilities, developing advanced stream-gaging techniques for measuring extremely high flow rates that develop during the extreme wet season in India, and helping to organize India's hydrologic data base. Indian research on rain gages, a snow gage, a sediment sampler, and a data logger were of particular interest. A soil-moisture monitoring instrument project is being jointly planned.