Improving India’s water resource planning

We developed a Decision Support System (DSS) to help India with its water resource planning. By utilising our models, local water authorities can improve short- and long-term water resource planning.

Over one billion people call India home, making it the second most populous nation on earth. The country’s growing population puts increasing pressure on its natural resources. Overexploited and polluted water is a problem in some areas. In addition, many parts of the country experience flooding during the monsoon season. This makes efficient resource development and management very difficult.

India has taken several measures in recent decades to improve the management of its water resources. Now the country is focusing on strengthening its decision support tools in order to address five key water resources issues:

• surface water planning
• integrated operation of reservoirs
• surface water and groundwater planning
• drought monitoring, assessment and management
• management of the quality of surface and groundwater

We have helped India’s water authorities meet the challenges posed by floods and droughts since the 1980s. Using our local knowledge of the country, we developed a DSS software package for nine states and six central agencies. Driven by our MIKE CUSTOMISED by DHI platform, the DSS allows water authorities to:

• predict the impact of proposed changes to water management infrastructure on water resources
• improve their water resource planning
• create awareness among stakeholders and the general public

The use of advanced technology in water management is still new to state authorities in India. Many staff members have difficulties understanding the tools and taking full advantage of them. As such, we will continue to support the Indian users of our DSS over the coming years.