Modeling Rainwater Storage in Distributed Reservoir Systems in Humid Subtropical and Tropical Savannah Regions

Pandey, Pramod Kumar; Soupir, Michelle L.; Singh, Vijay P.; Panda, Sudhindra N.; Pandey, Vinay Kumar

doi:10.1007/s11269-011-9847-5

Cited by 21 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 30 publications

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“…Unfortunately, there is a lack of empirical studies that quantify tank hydrologic fluxes, especially at the scale of watersheds comprising of multiple tanks (Glendenning et al, 2012;Mialhe et al, 2008;Pandey et al, 2011Pandey et al, , 2013. One reason for the lack of information is that both groundwater recharge and ET are highly spatially variable, and thus difficult to accurately measure at the field scale (Glendenning et al, 2012).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The socioecohydrology of rainwater harvesting in India: understanding water storage and release dynamics across spatial scales

Meter

Steiff

McLaughlin

et al. 2016

Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci.

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Abstract. Rainwater harvesting (RWH), the small-scale collection and storage of runoff for irrigated agriculture, is recognized as a sustainable strategy for ensuring food security, especially in monsoonal landscapes in the developing world. In south India, these strategies have been used for millennia to mitigate problems of water scarcity. However, in the past 100 years many traditional RWH systems have fallen into disrepair due to increasing dependence on groundwater. This dependence has contributed to accelerated decline in groundwater resources, which has in turn led to increased efforts at the state and national levels to revive older RWH systems. Critical to the success of such efforts is an improved understanding of how these ancient systems function in contemporary landscapes with extensive groundwater pumping and shifted climatic regimes. Knowledge is especially lacking regarding the water-exchange dynamics of these RWH tanks at tank and catchment scales, and how these exchanges regulate tank performance and catchment water balances. Here, we use fine-scale, water-level variation to quantify daily fluxes of groundwater, evapotranspiration (ET), and sluice outflows in four tanks over the 2013 northeast monsoon season in a tank cascade that covers a catchment area of 28 km 2 . At the tank scale, our results indicate that groundwater recharge and irrigation outflows comprise the largest fractions of the tank water budget, with ET accounting for only 13-22 % of the outflows. At the scale of the cascade, we observe a distinct spatial pattern in groundwater-exchange dynamics, with the frequency and magnitude of groundwater inflows increasing down the cascade of tanks. The significant magnitude of return flows along the tank cascade leads to the most downgradient tank in the cascade having an outflow-to-capacity ratio greater than 2. At the catchment scale, the presence of tanks in the landscape dramatically alters the catchment water balance, with runoff decreasing by nearly 75 %, and recharge increasing by more than 40 %. Finally, while water from the tanks directly satisfies ∼ 40 % of the crop water requirement across the northeast monsoon season via surface water irrigation, a large fraction of the tank water is "wasted", and more efficient management of sluice outflows could lead to tanks meeting a higher fraction of crop water requirements.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The socioecohydrology of rainwater harvesting in India: understanding water storage and release dynamics across spatial scales

Meter

Steiff

McLaughlin

et al. 2016

Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci.

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“…They suggest that for large deficits large surface storages are needed, as small storages require a large fraction of arable land, and they recommend extending their approach by including interactions between surface and groundwater. (Pandey et al, 2011) estimate seepage and evaporation losses of on-farm storages in two locations in Texas (US) and…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Challenges in assessing the regional feasibility of local water storage

Nikkels

Oel

Meinke

et al. 2019

Water International

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The regional effects of local water storage are largely unknown. This study identifies, categorizes and discusses the challenges in assessing the potential of local water storage. These are illustrated using a structured method applied to a Dutch case. We conclude that the focus must shift from storage 'potential' (the quantity of water that can be stored) to storage 'feasibility', which depends on exploitability, purpose and interactions between storage alternatives. Spatial and temporal scale also influence feasibility. Finally, farmers' investment preferences are a factor, though these are shrouded in uncertainty. This overview is a first step towards improving storage assessment tools and processes.

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“…Based on research by Liang and Pieter van Dijk (2011) in China as well as Pandey and Soupir (2011) in India, the feasibility of an RWH system depends on the size and material. The direct economic viability of an RWH system also depends on the balance of costs: investment and running and maintenance costs of the system (Silva et al, 2015).…”

Section: Feasibilitymentioning

confidence: 99%