Assessment of base flow and base flow index of ramganga river catchment Kumar Rajesh1,*, Ojasvi P.R.2, Chandola V.K.1, Nema A.K.1 1Department of Farm Engineering, Institute of Agricultural Sciences, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi-221 005, Uttar Pradesh 2ICAR-Indian Institute of Soil and Water Conservation, Dehradun-248 195, Uttarakhand *E-mail: rajeshyadav04@yahoo.co.in
Online published on 9 October, 2018. Abstract A study was conducted for assessment of base flow and base flow index in the Ramganga catchment area, a sub catchment of river Ganga, in Uttarakhand, India. The discharge data of three gauging stations viz., Kedar, Naula and Sarpdully were collected and base flow and base flow index (BFI) were estimated from daily discharge record by Untied Kindom Institute of Hydrology method. This method performs a separation of the base flow from the total discharge to calculate the BFI. The mean BFI for total period of available daily record for the three gauging sites of Kedar, Naula and Sarpdully were 0.620, 0.676 and 0.800, respectively. The mean base flows of all gauging sites were estimated for daily stream gauge data series and the annual mean base flow was calculated. The highest base flow of 45.087 m3s−1 was obtained at Sarpdully in 2012 followed by 42.679 m3s−1 at Naula during 1973 and 7.573 m3/s at Kedar gauging site in 1973. From the analysis it was concluded that the base flow contribution from the aquifer draining into Sarpdully gauging site has been maximum which indicated a perennial stream with porous aquifer whereas Naula and Kedar sites too have perennial streams but the aquifer of that area seems to be less porous or may have some obstructions. Top Keywords Base flow, Base flow index, Discharge, Ramganga catchment. Top |