UM-1/2010 : Web based hydrology and water resources information system for India

Abstract

Water Resources management deals with technical, as well as socio-economic and ecological aspects and calls for an integrated approach and a comprehensive hydrological information system have become the key for efficient water management worldwide. The existing hydrological information systems in India lack reliability, accessibility and timeliness. The main causes are manual processing and wide gap between the tools available and employed, and involvement of many agencies, often lacking integration. Hydroinformatics is a new and rapidly developing field that integrates knowledge and understanding of water resources with the latest developments in information technology (IT) to improve decision-making in many critical applications. It encompasses methods for data capture, storage, processing, analysis and visualization, and the use of advanced modeling, simulation, optimization and knowledge-based tools and systems infrastructure. Considering the increasing popularity of IT in day-to-day functioning in all spheres of work, it can very effectively be utilized in the field of information dissemination.

The report presents an easy to use and functional Web based Hydrology and Water Resources Information System for India developed at National Institute of Hydrology, Roorkee. The aim of this system is to distribute hydrology and water resources related information of India via the web. The information includes maps, diagrams and text describing the hydrology and water resources of India from national to river basin / sub-basin level in space and time. The system also covers important elements of hydrology including various terminologies and definitions. The idea behind the development of this system is to provide a low-barrier, cheap and flexible method of information dissemination worldwide on hydrology of India.