Water resource competition in the brahmaputra river basin. The basin is usually known by the names of the two longer rivers, the ganges commonly known as ganga and the brahmaputra known as tsangpo in tibet. Exploring the transboundary effects year, about 20 % of the country is inundated, but in extreme years the area of inundation may rise up to 60 % ahmed et al. Although officially as well as popularly called the ganga in hindi and in other indian languages, internationally it is known by its conventional name, the ganges. The rate of chemical erosion for each system are similar, but this is difficult to interpret because the geographic and geologic distribution of surface area in the two basins are very. Official pdf, 108 pages world bank documents world bank group. The ganges delta is the floodplain of three great rivers. Aquastat faos global information system on water and.
The ganges ganga river runs through northern india and is sacred to those who follow hinduism. There are both human and natural causes of flooding in this area. The survey strengthening cso engagement in water governance. Pollution threatens many fish species and amphibian species and the endangered ganges river dolphin blind dolphin. A discussion of regional opportunities and risks figures figure 1. The confluence of three major rivers brahmaputra, ganges, and meghna occurs in bangladesh. Pdf icon water governance and regional cooperation in the gbm basin. The soil is thin except in the river valleys, but everywhere the tropical sun and torrential rains have leached minerals. The designations employed and the presentation of material in this publication do not imply.
Other articles where gangesbrahmaputra lowlands is discussed. Forecasting for the ganges brahmaputrameghna river basins. For most of its course it is a wide and sluggish stream, flowing through one of the. For example, the 1998 floods in bangladesh covered more. Pdf linking rivers in the gangesbrahmaputra river basin. The report provides, for the first time, a numbersbased view of the impacts of floods of different severities across the ganges basin, helping identify priority areas for addressing flood risks for example, relocating levees, improving flood warning systems, and boosting overall economic resilience. Although only 8 percent of the 580,000squarekilometer basin area of the brahmaputra is in bangladesh,190 it is bangladeshs largest water system, followed by.
Pdf texture and mineralogy of sediments from the ganges. Are general circulation models ready for operational. Water travel times within ganges and brahmaputra basins 2. The ganges or gangesbrahmaputrameghnabarak gbm basin comprise a river system that originates in the eastern himalayas and spans over 1.
The indus, ganges and brahmaputra river basins support 700 million people in asia. Linking rivers in the gangesbrahmaputra river basin. The greatest amount of rain 84% of the annual total falls during the monsoon season. Simulated runoff for the ganges and brahmaputra rivers follow the trends in the rated discharge for the calibration period. Sedimentation patterns in the gangesbrahmaputra delta. Flooding is a significant problem in the ganges and brahmaputra river basin. The objective of the survey is to capture government perception about existing and potential roles of cso in shared water governance. Government perceptions and strategies in the gangesbrahmaputrameghna basin reports on interviews conducted with more than 80 government representatives from bangladesh, china, india and nepal.
Postglacial climate forcing of surface processes in the. The gangesbrahmaputrameghna river basins in south asia are prone to tremendous floodrelated human suffering and economic loss. In the gangesbrahmaputrameghna gbm basin, the bridge project is funded by the asia foundation and the transboundary rivers of south asia trosa programme of oxfam novib. Pdf water management in the gangesbrahmaputra basin. However, because of a lack of basinwide hydrological data from in situ platforms, whether they are real time or historical, water management has been quite challenging for the 630 million inhabitants. Pdf the following paper explores the possible interlinkage of the ganges and brahmaputra river basin and analyzes its effect on future. Gangesbrahmaputra meghna river basin food and agriculture. In the gbmbasin, the abundant water during the monsoon leads to hazards such as flooding and other natural disasters. The forecast skill in the brahmaputra basin showed more improvement when the time horizon was aggregated from monthly to seasonal than the ganges basin. Ganges river, hindi ganga, great river of the plains of the northern indian subcontinent. This study is the first of its kind as these estimates have never before been calculated for the ganges. Map of tectonomorphic features and controls on the gangesbrahmaputra rivers and delta system.
Sedimentation patterns in the gangesbrahmaputra delta system irina overeem1, k. World water forum, transboundary river basin, ganges basin, brahmaputra basin isbn printed 9789512298747 isbn pdf 9789512298754 issn 1797254x. Building river dialogue and governance for civil society. Along the coast, he width of the delta is approximately 350 km. The physical geography of the gangabrahmaputra basin the gangabrahmaputra basin can broadly be divided into four geographical regions the himalayan zone, the great plains, hilly areas of east and hill and plateau tracts of the south. Through a series of regional dialogues and consensus. However, monthly flow volume differs from the actual rated flow by. Keywords gangesbrahmaputrameghna delta river system floodplain formation wetland ecosystems management introduction the gangesbrahmaputrameghna river delta is the largest delta in the world and it is located in the bengal basin of the south asian region of bengal morgen and mclntire 1959. About 250 years ago in 1776, the brahmaputra river flowed east side of the madhupur tract to.
Radiocarbon analyses suggest that 20% of the carbon exported from this. In recent years, there has been increasing concernthat the water resources of these river systemsmay be vulnerablein the contextof global climate change ipcc, 2007. Protracted storage of biospheric carbon in the ganges. A study of floods in the brahmaputra basin in india. The water resources are used for irrigation, drinking, industry, navigation and hydropower. Model study of the impacts of future climate change on the. Finally, the skill assessment for the individual seasons revealed that the. A study of floods in the brahmaputra basin in india article in international journal of climatology 207. The bridge gbm programme has developed a regional network of more than 30 csos from the five gbm countries. Focused on the gangesbrahmaputra rivers, this study presents records of postglacial changes in basinscale indian summer monsoon intensity and vegetation composition based on stable hydrogen. Texture and mineralogy of sediments from the gangesbrahmaputrameghna river system in the bengal basin, bangladesh and their environmental implications.
Satellite precipitation datadriven hydrological modeling. The ganga action plan, an environmental initiative to clean up the river, has been a major failure thus far, due to corruption, lack of technical expertise, poor environmental planning, and lack of. Ganges brahmaputra river basin the ganges and brahmaputra rivers both have their source in the himalayas where glacier melt water is an important source for the headwaters of the river. The gangesbrahmaputrameghna gbm river basin is a transboundary river basin with a. Trends and persistence in precipitation in the ganges. The himalayas the himalayas, with some of the loftiest peaks of the world is one of the.
Gangesbrahmaputrameghna delta, bangladesh and india. Gangesbrahmaputrameghna river basin food and agriculture. At the coast, the holocene gangesbrahmaputra delta has prograded across a broad front. Masood et al hydrology of gangesbrahmaputrameghna basin 749 table 1. A river basin is a region that is drained by a river, such as the ganges, and any of its tributaries. Impact of climate change on the hydrological regime of the. Ganges and brahmaputra river basin, with the respective catchment areas shown in yellow ganges and green brahmaputra. Major characteristics of the ganges, brahmaputra and meghna river basins.
There are some differences in precipitation between the upper and lower ganges basins. Pdf conflict and cooperation in the gangesbrahmaputrameghna. The gangesbrahmaputrameghna gbm system is considered to be one transboundary river basin even though the three rivers of this system have certain distinct characteristics and flow through very different regions for most parts of their lengths. We demonstrate that by use of systems a nalysis techniques we are able to consider.
Deltaic floodplains development and wetland ecosystems. Item brahmaputra ganges meghna basin area km2 583000b 530000f. Originating in the himalayan mountains within distinct drainage basins, the ganges and brahmaputra rivers coalesce in the. Schematic of the major tributary contributions of the ganges 4 figure 3. Kuehl, 1998, floodplain processes in the bengal basin and the storage of gangesbrahmaputra river sediment. Satellitederived surface and subsurface water storage in the. From time immemorial it has been the holy river of hinduism. The ganges basin receives nearly 1,000 mm of precipitation annually. Exploring the transboundary effects requirements of both india and bangladesh for water, there is likely. Map of south asia with separation of the ganges and brahmaputra rivers6.
Flood risk assessment and forecasting for the ganges. Gangesbrahmaputra lowlands plains, india britannica. Note that areas of uplift serve to partition the delta into numerous subbasins that each have. More than four hundred million people in india live in the area that feeds the river, known as the ganges river basin. They cause large scale problems in the low lying country of bangladesh. The meghna basin is comprised of parts of the north assam and south assam meteorological subdivisions in india and the meghna basin in bangladesh.
The brahmaputra basin is exposed to more intense monsoon than the ganges, as shown by their respective runoffs of 1090 brahmaputra and 617 mmyear ganges. Floodplain processes in the bengal basin and the storage of ganges brahmaputra river sediment. Pdf english the transboundary river basin profile is a summary of key information that gives an overview of the water resources and water use at the river basin level, including the transboundary water issues. The gangesbrahmaputrameghna gbm delta and its catchment area are shared between five. Inside bangladesh, the run off of all these main rivers is primarily generated by the accumulation of basinwide. The river ganga and its tributaries, and the flat and fertile plain through which they flow, are one of the earths great natural resources. Bridge in the gangesbrahmaputrameghna river basins bridge gbm bridge in the. They are dotted with lakes and marshes and there is much forest cover. In fact, because there are no interstate or waterrelated crises at present, the moment is. The ganges, brahmaputra, and meghna gbm river system flows through five. Gangesbrahmaputrameghna river basin geography, population and climate geography the gangesbrahmaputrameghna gbm river basin is a transboundary river basin with a total area of just over 1. Administrative divisions and transboundary subbasins 25 2.
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