Sustaining Himalayan Water Resources in a Changing Climate (SusHi-Wat)

Lead Research Organisation: Heriot-Watt University
Department Name: Sch of Energy, Geosci, Infrast & Society

Abstract

In this project, we propose to investigate how water is stored in, and moves through, a Himalayan river system (the inter-linked Beas and Sutjej catchments) in northern India at daily to decadal timescales and to use the resulting insights to develop and test a robust model of the whole system that can be used to inform current and future decision making to support the sustainable development and management of the region's water resources. Building on the success of the MICCI project (within the Changing Water Cycle - South Asia programme) in the region, the project will address user requirements centred on understanding and managing the effects of climatological and hydrological variability and socio-economic development on delivery of critical ecosystems services, notably the irrigation water supply-hydropower generation-flood risk management nexus.
A combination of state-of-the-art modelling, field studies, satellite-based remote sensing and observation will be developed to improve the process-based understanding of Himalayan water resources availability and quality, considering meteorology, surface-water, groundwater, seasonal snow, permanent snow/ice, soil and vegetation. These stores and flows will be considered within a 'whole-system' framework that explicitly recognises their inter-dependencies and interactions.
The improved understanding will be used to set-up, calibrate and validate a robust system model of the river basins using the widely used Water Evaluation And Planning (WEAP) software system. This model will integrate both 'natural' catchment processes and human modifications of the river basin system into account. These latter include irrigation, hydropower generation, and inter-basin water transfers. The whole system model will be used to understand how the impact of climate change, land-use change and population growth will affect water resources (including flood risk management), water demand (irrigation and public water demand) and inter-sectoral competition for water supply (for water transfers, irrigation and hydropower) through their interactions with the hydrological cycle. The results will be used to inform decision-making and support the sustainable development of India's water resources and hence long-term socio-economic growth
The project will involve collaboration between internationally-leading scientists at 4 Indian institutions (IIT-Roorkee; NIT- Hamirpur, National Institute of Hydrology-Roorkee and the Indian Institute of Science- Bangalore), 2 UK Universities (Heriot-Watt University and Cranfield University) and one UK research institute (British Antarctic Survey). It will build on an existing and thriving collaboration between many of the UK and Indian partners. We will work with key regional and national stakeholders in India (farmers, agricultural advisers, river basin management board and the national farmers association) to ensure the relevance and impact of the research.

Planned Impact

In this project, our research will inform the understanding and management of the effects of climatological and hydrological variability and socio-economic development on delivery of critical ecosystems services, notably the irrigation water supply-hydropower generation-flood risk management nexus, in the Indian Himalayan region. It will build on the success and pre-existing stakeholder links of the MICCI project (within the Changing Water Cycle - South Asia programme) in the region. This will ensure that our activities complement and contribute to the overarching Impact and Knowledge Exchange plan of the 'Sustaining Water Resources for Food, Energy & Ecosystem Services in India' programme
At the strategic level, a wide range of Indian organisations at State to National level with responsibility for policy and practice in relation to water and natural resources, rural development and food security will benefit. These include the National and State Ministries of Agriculture, Rural Development, Earth Sciences, Environment and Forest and the Bkahra-Beas Management Board (who operate and regulate the supply of water and power from the Pong and Bhakra reservoirs).
Important beneficiaries regarding the improvement in consumptive use of water are small scale, rural Indian farmers who depend on rainfed and irrigated agriculture for their livelihoods, for whom the research will contribute towards improved practices of sustainable irrigation management production that are more resilient to future environmental change. We have pre-existing stakeholder relationships from MICCI with the State Agricultural Extension Services and the All India Farmers Association.
Users involved in research to improve our understanding of how climate change interacts with the global to regional water cycle, and the consequent impacts affecting humankind and ecosystems will also benefit from the research outcomes. These include researchers on water resource modelling, rural development, aquatic ecology, surface water quality etc.
A number of activities are scheduled to achieve these impacts, including:
(1) Network development- participating research institutions in India will profit from enhanced technical capacities through close working relations with their UK counterparts while the UK researchers benefit through new knowledge gained from interactions with their Indian counterparts;
(2) Stakeholder engagement through creation of a multi-stakeholder platform that will link the research team and key end users in India and act as a focal point for a range of outreach and networking activities;
(3) Workshops- we will carry out 2 workshops with farmer organizations, central and state government irrigation agencies and agricultural extension advisers at the start and end of the project. These will provide valuable opportunities for two-way learning, allowing improved understanding of climate change impact and the need to improve irrigation practices and to ensure that the research produces contextually-relevant results to maximise impact;
(4)Site visits- We propose a 3 day UK study visit for representatives of the extension services in the State Department of Agriculture in our 4 states and research collaborators, featuring a workshop and site visits to commercial irrigated agriculture facilities mainly in Eastern England. The workshop will be designed and led by RTCS Ltd;
(5)Publications in peer-reviewed journals and presentation at learned conferences; and
(6) Website- dedicated websites will be developed on the UK and Indian institutional websites on which scientific and summary outputs from the project will be mounted.
 
Description 1. We have discovered that large amounts of the glacier and ice that contribute to sustaining the water resources in the Western Himalaya are being lost annually as result of climate change;
2. Data constitutes a major issue, especially in the China/Tibet part of the Sutlej basin and this is causing problems for our ability to accurately calibrate and validate our hydrological models;
3. The adhoc method by which the reservoirs are being operated in the Sutlej/Beas basin does not bring out the best of these systems in terms of helping to cushion the effect of water shortages, especially due to climate change and thus more formalised, optimal operating policies that recognise the conjunctive integrated operation of the systems complete with hedging rules that temper system vulnerabilty have been developed for the Pong and Bhakra reservoirs;
4. Operating rules that incorporate complex dynamic hedging are not much better than simple, static hedging rules as far as reservoir performance is concerned;
the bias in reservoir planning and operational characteristics due to accommodation of evaporation loss is largely unaffected by the functional form of the reservoir height-area-storage relationship used to convert the evaporation depth into lost volume of water;
5. The detailed process modelling of evaporation loss involving its explicit consideration in the reservoir storage mass balance produced outcomes that were indistinguishable from the implicit, two-stage approach adopted by WEAP which led us to conclude that WEAP's approach is fit for purpose;
a much easier to use method by farmers for identifying the time to apply irrigation water based on the crop water stress index (CWSI) has been developed and novel, parsimonious data-driven modelling approach for predicting either the CWSI directly or the well-watered canopy temperature used in its estimation has been developed;
6. The effect of the climate change is not just affecting the water availability but also ecosystem services with the provisioning services seen to be declining over the years;
7. Projections of land use have shown that cultivated land and hence demand for irrigation will decrease in the States of Punjab and Haryana but will increase in Rajasthan State;
8. Our simulations using the whole process model have indicated that future socio-economic changes will have a much stronger impact on the water-food-energy-environment nexus compared to climate change.

The above discoveries are the subject of several manuscripts that have either been published or currently at various stages of review.
Exploitation Route The whole system model powered by WEAP will be delivered to the Bhakra and Beas Management Board (BBMB) which they will use for developing effective adaptive measures for future challenges of climate and socio-economic changes in the basin. We have also produced climate projections that have been bias-corrected for use by the BBMB and others. Finally, a lot of interests are being shown in the outcome of the project by independent observers. For example, the India-UK Water Centre have approached the project team to feature at their planned stakeholders engagement initiative in UP in April with a view to discussing how the SusHi-Wat tools and other outcomes can be adapted or translated to other strategic river basins in India, notably the Ganga. It should be noted that although three projects were funded in the UKRI-NERC SWR Programme, only SusHi-Wat has been so courted and invited. We have accepted the invitation and honour.
Sectors Agriculture, Food and Drink,Communities and Social Services/Policy,Education,Energy,Environment,Government, Democracy and Justice,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections
URL https://www.egis.hw.ac.uk/sushiwat/research/
 
Description The flagship of the project is the whole system model developed within WEAP, which has been enhanced with the new knowledge emerging from the detailed process modelling of the drivers of water security in the Beas/Sutlej Basin. The final version of the model will be delivered to BBMB operational staff in due course because a training course on its use by the Board's operational staff has been successfully conducted. The model has been well received as they see it as a tool that would enhance their operational practices. Also as remarked in the Key Findings Section, interest in the whole system model and other outcomes of the project has been shown and there are no plans in place to adapt them to other river basins in India.
First Year Of Impact 2019
Sector Agriculture, Food and Drink,Communities and Social Services/Policy,Energy,Environment,Government, Democracy and Justice
Impact Types Cultural,Policy & public services
 
Description Membership Global Food Security (GFS) working Group of crop breeders and climate modeller (by invitation)
Geographic Reach Multiple continents/international 
Policy Influence Type Membership of a guideline committee
URL http://www.foodsecurity.ac.uk
 
Description Newton Fund topup award
Amount £150,000 (GBP)
Funding ID NE/N016394/1 
Organisation Natural Environment Research Council 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 10/2016 
End 04/2019
 
Description Peruvian Glacier Retreat and its Impact on Water Security (Peru GROWS)
Amount £399,507 (GBP)
Organisation Natural Environment Research Council 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 02/2019 
End 11/2021
 
Description Scheme for Promotion of Academic and Research Collaboration (SPARC)
Amount ₹8,900,000 (INR)
Organisation Scheme for Promotion of Academic and Research Collaboration 
Sector Academic/University
Country India
Start 12/2019 
End 12/2021
 
Title Calibrated and validated WEAP model for the Beas/Sutlej River Basin, India 
Description The WEAP model, a generic water resources planning and management model developed by the Stockholm Environment Institute, has been calibrated for the Beas/Sutlej River Basin in the India Himalaya. It will be used by the Beas-Bhakra Management Board (BBMB) and other stakeholders in the Basin to plan for and mitigate the effects of projected climate change in the basin. A working proto-type has been demonstrated to stakeholders at the BBMB headquarters in Chandigarh and was well received. Its further refinements are undergoing, principally to incorporate the new understanding of the drivers of water security in the basin that has emerged as part of the project. 
Type Of Material Improvements to research infrastructure 
Year Produced 2018 
Provided To Others? Yes  
Impact Not yet! 
URL https://www.weap21.org/
 
Title A piecewise regression model for reservoir area-storage function for evaporation inclusion in reservoir simulation studies 
Description In including evaporation losses explicitly in reservoir simulation studies, it is often assumed that exposed reservoir area varies linearly with the reservoir storage state. However, in reality reservoir area-storage function is intrinsically non-linear. Thus any linear approximation would lead to either under/over estimation of loss in the water balance of reservoir equations. In this study, a piecewise regression model has been developed for a more accurate approximation of the non-linear function for inclusion in reservoir mass balance equation. Different models have been developed for the Pong and Bhakra reservoirs, the two main reservoir in the study area. 
Type Of Material Computer model/algorithm 
Year Produced 2019 
Provided To Others? Yes  
Impact Comparison between developed piecewise regression with simple linear regression model showed a significant reduction in the error while estimating the exposed area of reservoir at different storage levels. This will inturn translate into a more accurate estimation of reservoir evaporation losses. The model when published will provide other researchers with an improved method for accommodating explicitly evaporation loss in reservoir simulation and optimization studies. A manuscript has been submitted to the Journal Water Resources Planning & Management, ASCE. 
 
Title Data accompanying the research on impacts of hydroclimate, land-use and socio-economic changes on water security in the Beas-Sutlej Basin in Northern India 
Description Data contain: (a) Climate model (GFDL-CM3) output under RCP 8.5 projections over the Himalayan catchment, consisting of precipitation and temperatures at both monthly and daily time series; (b) Observed monthly inflow and releases for the Pong and Bhakra reservoirs; (c) Irrigation water demand and allocations as simulated by the WEAP model for various climate and socio-economic change scenarios; and (d) Outcome of the land-use and population projections 
Type Of Material Database/Collection of data 
Year Produced 2019 
Provided To Others? Yes  
Impact This dataset is very significant for understanding water resources system in the Himalayas in response to the impacts of climate and socio-economic changes. 
 
Title Data accompanying the research on reservoir operation for the Pong and Bhakra reservoir in Northern India 
Description This dataset contains time series of reservoir releases (including any spills), evaporation loss, and rule curves for the Pong and Bhakra reservoirs, India. 
Type Of Material Database/Collection of data 
Year Produced 2020 
Provided To Others? Yes  
Impact Data contain monthly Inflows, net-evaporation loss and release (x 10^6 m^3) as simulated by WEAP for the Pong and Bhakra reservoir for the baseline (1989 - 2008); mid century (2032-2050) and end-century (2082-2100) periods. The future inflows were based on forcing the WEAP model of the basin with climate projections of the GFDL-CM3 CMIP model. The associated rationing ratios to apply to the gross demand when rationing are also indicated. When rationing is triggered, the reservoir release towards the demand is capped at RR * D, where RR is the rationing ratio and D is the gross demand for the period. 
 
Title Development of a stochastic model for streamflow generation 
Description The monthly Thomas-Fiering model was adapted for generating cumulative 10-day flows for River Sutlej at Bhakra dam. This had become necessary because time series reservoir inflow data at the site were not forthcoming. The parameters of the model were evaluated using published summary statistics for 10-day cumulative flows. Overall, 30 year runoff data were simulated and the parameters of the synthesized series compared well with the published historic statistics. As the real data become available, further comparison between the generated and observed series will be made. 
Type Of Material Computer model/algorithm 
Year Produced 2017 
Provided To Others? Yes  
Impact This has allowed the development of the detailed reservoir optimization simulation model for the Bhakra which will otherwise be impossible because the promised time series data have not been made available. 
 
Title Dynamic hedging of reservoirs 
Description An optimisation model that develops dynamic hedging operation of reservoirs in which the hedging factor, rather than being constant, changes with the season in accordance with the level of water availability. The aim was to see whether or not such a dynamic system would further enhance systems performance, especially when water is in short supply as a consequence of climate change. The simulation results with the new model did produce improvements in performance but these were very marginal that it was felt unjustifiable by the extra effort involved in the development of the dynamic hedging policy. 
Type Of Material Computer model/algorithm 
Year Produced 2018 
Provided To Others? Yes  
Impact The big message of the investigation is that hedging is useful as a reservoir operational practice but does not need to be complex to be effective. 
 
Title Hydrological and water quality model simulation results for multiple locations, models and scenarios (daily time step) 
Description Hydrological and water quality model simulation results for multiple locations, models and scenarios (daily time step) simulated by WEAP model for the Beas-Sutlej river basin, India. 
Type Of Material Data analysis technique 
Year Produced 2019 
Provided To Others? Yes  
Impact Files corresponding to the final version of the model are currently part of a manuscript review process and will be uploaded by Cranfield to CRIS or CEDA once the review process is over/manuscript is accepted for your use. 
URL https://figshare.com/articles/Output_of_Beas-Sutlej_basins_systems_model/7041902/2
 
Title Model-simulated and bias-corrected daily total precipitation from a reanalysis-driven Weather Research and Forecasting simulation of the Beas and Sutlej river basins in the Himalaya, 1980 to 2012 
Description High-resolution simulations of daily precipitation over the Beas and Sutlej basins in the Himalaya from 1980 to 2012 were conducted using the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model by the British Antarctic Survey, Cambridge, UK. It was shown that applying a non-linear bias-correction method to the model precipitation output resulted in much better results. The work formed part of the project 'Sustaining Himalayan Water Resources in a Changing Climate (SusHi-Wat)' during 2015 to 2018, and was funded by the UK Natural Environmental Research Council grant number NE/N015592/1. The datasets produced are necessary as accurate fine-scale estimates of precipitation over catchments in the Himalaya mountain range are required for providing input to hydrological models, as well as identifying precipitation extremes for assessing hydro-meteorological hazards. 
Type Of Material Data analysis technique 
Year Produced 2019 
Provided To Others? Yes  
Impact High-resolution simulations of daily precipitation over the Beas and Sutlej basins in the Himalaya from 1980 to 2012 were conducted using the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model by the British Antarctic Survey, Cambridge, UK. It was shown that applying a non-linear bias-correction method to the model precipitation output resulted in much better results. The work formed part of the project 'Sustaining Himalayan Water Resources in a Changing Climate (SusHi-Wat)' during 2015 to 2018, and was funded by the UK Natural Environmental Research Council grant number NE/N015592/1. The datasets produced are necessary as accurate fine-scale estimates of precipitation over catchments in the Himalaya mountain range are required for providing input to hydrological models, as well as identifying precipitation extremes for assessing hydro-meteorological hazards. 
 
Title River Beas (India) macroinvertebrate sampling 2017 
Description Macroinvertebrate kick-sampling results on the River Beas in November 2017. Additional details are available in: https://doi.org/10.3390/w10091247 This research was funded by the UK Natural Environment Research Council, grant number NE/N016394/1. 
Type Of Material Database/Collection of data 
Year Produced 2020 
Provided To Others? Yes  
Impact Data is useful for understanding ecosystem services in the Himalayan catchment, India. 
 
Description Heriot-Watt University and Gazi University (Turkey) on reservoir planning and operation. 
Organisation Gazi University
Country Turkey 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution A PhD research scholar, Mr Murat Pinarlik, from Gazi University Turkey was on a 9-month (Feb - Nov. 2019) study exchange visit that was funded by the Scientific and Technological Council of Turkey, Directorate of Science Fellowships and Grant Programmes (BIDEB). During this period, he worked on the modelling of reservoir systems using the well-behaved reservoir simulation tools that have been developed in my research group and data of 7 Turkish reservoirs. This work, as I have been made to understand has been adjudged by Mr Milarlik's supervisor as constituting a major component of his PhD thesis.I was approached by e-mail to accept Mr Pinarlik for this placement based on recognition of my world-leading research work on reservoir systems planning and operation.
Collaborator Contribution The entire 9-month exchange programme for Mr Pinarlik was fully funded by the Turkish BIDEB Award. Without this award, the exchange will not have been possible. Built into the award are fully funded visits to Heriot-Watt University by Dr Shankar and my reciprocating visit to NIT-Hamirpur. The data obtained by Mr Pinarlik through the Turkish Republic General Directorate of State Hydraulic Works and which he used for the development of his models are valuable resources that will contribute to the research in my group on the further understanding of the fundamental behaviour of reservoir systems. Also, as I noted earlier, the assessors of Mr Pinarlik at Gazi University have deemed the work done with me during the attachment as fully complementing that already done to the extent that he can now commence producing his PhD thesis. Finally, Mr Pinarlik has produced a Journal manuscript which is currently being reviewed. The plan is to develop more manuscripts for joint publication.
Impact 1.Manuscript under review 2.Presentation at the Roorkee Water Conclave, 26 - 28 February 2020
Start Year 2019
 
Description Heriot-Watt University and INAIGEM (Peru) on water resources modelling 
Organisation Government of Peru
Department Glaciers and Ecosystems Research National Institute
Country Peru 
Sector Public 
PI Contribution The collaboration relates to a funded research on the impact of climate change on glaciers and water resources security in Peru. I'm a UK co-Investigator on the project with responsibility for developing improved operating policies for water resources infrastructure in Peru to be used as part of the WEAP modelling. INAIGEM are charged with the development of the WEAP model. I am contributing the experience gained in India through SusHi-Wat and MICCI on reservoir operation and optimisation. The INAIGEM researcher developing the WEAP model will be visiting the UK in April during which she will spend some time with me in Edinburgh.
Collaborator Contribution The partners are developing the WEAP model which will form the basis for testing robust adaptation measures for combating any water security challenges that may result from the simulations in future time horizons.
Impact None yet.
Start Year 2019
 
Description Heriot-Watt University and NIT-Hamirpur on irrigation water management 
Organisation National Institute of Technology Hamirpur
Country India 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution A PhD research scholar, Mr Navsal Kumar, from NIT Hamirpur was on a 6-month study exchange visit that was funded by the Indian SERB-overseas visiting doctoral fellowship programme. During this period, he worked on the modelling of crop water stress index (CWSI) using novel data-driven techniques and the data he had collected during field experiments at Himachal Pradesh as part of SusHi-Wat. The home supervisor of the scholar, Dr Vijay Shankar, is a co-Investigator in SusHi-Wat.
Collaborator Contribution The entire 6-month exchange of Mr Kumar was fully funded by the Indian SERB award made to Dr Shankar. Without this award, the exchange will not have been possible. Built into the award are fully funded visits to Heriot-Watt University by Dr Shankar and my reciprocating visit to NIT-Hamirpur. Both of these visits will take place later this year and will be used to further develop joint research collaboration ideas. The data obtained by Mr Kumar and which he used for the development of his models are valuable resources that will contribute to the research in my group on the innovative, AI modelling of environmental systems. Finally, Mr Kumar has produced two manuscripts which are currently being reviewed. The plan is to develop more manuscripts for joint publication. As part of this collaboration, I have recently been approached and appointed as international assessor of the PhD thesis by one of Dr Shankar's students. This has been accepted.
Impact 1. Two manuscripts jointly authored already submitted to Journals and undergoing review 2. Invitation to examine PhD thesis at NIT-Hamirpur 3. Visit to Heriot-Watt University by Dr Shankar (to take place later this year) 4. Visit to NIT-Hamirpur by Adeloye (to take place this year)
Start Year 2016
 
Description Newton Bhabha 2017 Prize 
Organisation Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee
Country India 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution I was the lead applicant for this and developed the application. The proposed project was to follow-up on some of the recently completed work in India partly funded through the Newton Fund to assess the effects of El-Nino on water security in the Himalayas. Unfortunately, the application was not successful.
Collaborator Contribution They provided inputs into the application, especially in relation to the best locations for testing the proposed methodology. They also carried out initial soundings of the stakeholders in relation to the guarantee of data and other needed information for the proposed research.
Impact N/A
Start Year 2017
 
Description 3rd Indus Basin Knowledge Forum 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact This workshop held at IIASA in Vienna Austria (31 May - 2 June) was the third in a series workshops addressing water stress in the Indus Basin. I was nominated for the Workshop by the UKRI-NERC as a way of showcasing the ongoing SusHi-Wat research that is addressing water management issues in the Indus Basin. The Workshop featured oral presentations, keynote speeches and discussions in plenary and break-out sessions. Two Posters reporting on SusHi-Wat were mounted and discussed at the event. It was also a useful occasion of meeting and interacting with others working on water management issues in the Indus. A final report on the Workshop had since been produced (see the url below).
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
URL http://www.iiasa.ac.at/web/home/research/iswel/180529-IndusWorkshop.html
 
Description Attending Roorkee Water Conclave 2020 at Roorkee, India, 26 - 28 February 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact The Conclave was the first of its kind organised jointly by IIT-Roorkee and NIH-Roorkee who incidentally are collaborating research organisations for SusHi-Wat. As an international event, delegates came from virtually all the 6 Continents of the world and it was therefore an appropriate event to showcase the main findings of SusHi-Wat for maximum impact. Four presentations on different aspects of SusHi-Wat were made and discussed at the meeting. These covered the simulated impacts of climate and socio-economic changes on Himalayan water resources and ecosystem services, and the outcomes of carefully tested adaptation measures for coping with these. Given that the presentations were organised in different parallel sessions, the range of people getting to know about the project was "multiplied". Discussions with other attendees focused on possible future collaboration on climate change in India and elsewhere and follow-up on these approaches are being undertaken.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2020
URL https://www.iitr.ac.in/rwc2020/
 
Description Attending Water Future conference at Bangalore, India 24 - 28 September 2019 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact SusHi-Wat delegates presented their research findings at the Water Future Conference, which was held at Bangalore, India at which a side event for SusHi-Wat was also held. The side event represented the formal ending of the UKRI-NERC Sustainable Water Resources (SWR) Programme of which SusHi-Wat is a component project.

Presentations included:
1. "Water security assessment under effects of climate and socio-economic changes in the Beas-Sutlej river basin, India" (Poster presentation by Dau, PDRA at H-WU at the side event);
2. "Current & future state of ecosystem services in the Sutlej-Beas" (Poster presentation by Momblanch, PDRA at Cranfield University at the side event). This poster won the runner-up prize at the event; and
3. "Assessment of sediment yield and erosion rate in a mountain river basin of the Northern Himalayas, India using RUSLE and GIS" (Poster presentation by Gupta Doctoral scholar at IIT-Roorkee at the side event).

Additionally, an oral paper "Nexus modelling to inform robust water management climate change adaptation" was presented by Momblanch at the main Water Future event.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2019
 
Description Final project meeting in Roorkee, India 24-26 February, 2020 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact This was the finale Workshop involving all investigators (India and UK) and invited stakeholders. Over the two days, the investigators took stock of the stage of the project and presentations were made on different aspects focusing on the detailed process modelling and the adaptation strategies. Some investigators from the UK could not attend in person due to circumstances beyond their control but they participated by Skype.

Following the review of the objectives of the study and accomplishments, it was generally agreed that the project had achieved what had been outlined in the original aim and objectives. Discussions then centred around the production of the Final Project Report as required by the Indian Funders (MoES) and the updating of Researchfish for the UK investigators. Format for the Indian Funder's report was agreed and tasks were appropriately assigned to ensure that the report becomes ready and is delivered by the official end-date of the Project, which 14 April 2020. Discussions were also held about follow-on projects although without any knowledge about future India-UK collaboration agenda, nothing concrete was agreed other to request partners to be on the look out for any Announcement of Opportunities.

A notable impact is the invitation extended to SusHi-Wat to be showcased at the IUKWC Stakeholders engagement event being planned for April 2020 at UP, India. The idea is to exhibit the main findings of the project in the Indus Himalayan as a template for addressing similar issues in equally strategic River Basins of India. SusHi-Wat have accepted the invitation and the initial plan is the project will be represented by the 2-person limit imposed by IUKWC but personal communication with the IUKWC representative at the Roorkee Water Conclave is that this limit will be relaxed to allow Professor Adeloye to attend as a third participant to discuss the reservoir operation aspects of SusHi-Wat.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2020
URL https://iukwc.org/user-engagement-initiatives
 
Description Mid-term review meeting, Pune, India (21-22 February, 2018) 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact The mid-term review meeting was organised by the joint funders, i.e. the UK-NERC and Indian-MoES, to deliberate on the progress being made in all three SWR projects at the half-way stage of their implementation. It took place at the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, Pune over two days (21-22 February 2018). The meeting was attended by all the UK and Indian Investigators, in addition to representatives from the funding organisations and relevant stakeholders including the Indian Ministry of Water Resources, the Indian Meteorological Department, etc. Detailed presentations were made on each of the projects, followed by questions and answers. It was clear that all three projects are making good progress. The funders were also happy about the level of interactions the projects were having with the end users and stakeholders. In particular, the Funders were happy with how SusHi-Wat was actively engaging with BBMB, its main stakeholder, on the development and refinement of its methodologies and suggested that the other projects could learn from such. The SWR flyer was officially unveiled at the meeting. The formal meeting was followed by visits to both IIT-M and IMD to meet with relevant staff and inspect their facilities.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
 
Description Presenting research findings at IUGG General Assembly, 8 - 18 July 2019, Montreal, Canada 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Professor Adeloye gave an oral presentation on "Enhancement of reservoir performance through integrated operation", which was discussed at the Session. He and Dau also participated in discussing other presentations made at the symposium. Attending the event was also Dr Kasi who previously worked with Professor Adeloye as a PDRA on the project but who is now an Associate Professor at IIT-Roorkee. This afforded the opportunity to discuss with Kasi the implementation of our collaborative project that has been sponsored under the Indian Government Scheme for Promotion of Academic and Research Collaboration (SPARC). The news of top-up funding to the Professor Adeloye (the UK Partner on the project) by UKERI to sponsor the exchange of faculty and students between the UK and India also came during the Montreal symposium. Initial ideas about how the exchanges will be implemented were discussed at the Montreal meeting.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2019
URL http://iugg2019montreal.com/index.html
 
Description SWR Programme Modelling and Scenarios Development Workshop, ICRISAT, Hyderabad, India 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact The first SWR cross-programme workshop was held at ICRISAT, Hyderabad 18-20 September 2018 on the topic of Modelling & Scenario Development with the goal of understanding how the three projects address the SWR theme of "sustaining water resources for food, energy and ecosystem services" through whole systems modelling. The objectives of the workshop were to: (i) Increase awareness of different modelling approaches across SWR programme and better appreciate challenges in whole systems modelling; (ii) Explore use of different/common scenarios for climate, socio-economic and land use change across SWR programme; (iii) Agree best practice approaches to address science-policy interface; (iv) Develop a coordinated process to dissemination of project outputs that seeks to increase impact with different stakeholder groups; and (v) Discuss comparability of project insights across SWR programme and make recommendations for further SWR activity. The workshop was attended by 28 Indian and UK researchers from across the three SWR projects.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
URL https://www.newton-bhabha-swr.org/
 
Description SWR programme coordination meeting at Imperial College London (January 16, 2017) 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Study participants or study members
Results and Impact On behalf of the SWR PIs, Ana updated the activities related to the programme coordination. Gwyn, Ana and myself have met on 11 Jan 2017, and discussed and agreed on the following activities we plan to take forward:

1) Programme brochure

CEH will take a lead on producing a 4 page brochure that will contain overview of the programme and presentation of individual projects with all relevant contact details. This will be used to promote the work at various events that we will be attending.

2) Website(s)

CEH will create and host a central SWR programme website, while the individual institutions (CEH, Imperial and HW) will set up the project websites and link it to the central programme site. CEH has already created the initial project page (http://www.ceh.ac.uk/our-science/projects/upscape), and other two projects will follow the similar example.

3) Video

We have agreed to produce a short video material to be used for wider outreach. HW will take a lead on this. The local production company from India will be contacted to start arranging for the material collection. The idea is that the video will be produced once we have more results to present, and also after field campaigns that will provide a lot of interesting material.

4) Cross-projects workshop(s)

We are very keen to maximise the collaboration between projects, and the proposal is to organise a set of cross-theme workshops. Imperial will take a lead on summarising potential topics, and based on the interest from all three projects, the workshops will be organised to exchange information and strengthen the individual project approaches. At least two workshops are planned by the end of the programme.

5) Conferences

The proposal is to focus on promoting the work at eminent international conferences, such as EGU and AGU. In addition, we believe that there is a great opportunity for the work to be endorsed by the IAHS, and CEH has taken the initiative to explore organising a special SWR event at their General Assembly in July 2017.

In addition, we plan to organise a big international conference in India closer to the end of the programme, to bring together relevant scientists and stakeholders interested in the programme topic. The preparation for that will start immediately, with the support from our Indian partners.

Finally, Rick Stuart from EIDC has joined the meeting via conference call, and informed PIs on the requirements for the DMP.

We hope these activities are aligned with NERC expectations related to the programme coordination. We will be sending the updates on the various activities as we progress in our work. In the meantime, please let us know if there are any other suggestions/comments from the NERC side.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2017
 
Description Science for Impact Workshop, Netherlands 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact The workshop which took place at Wageningen University and Research, 16 -18 October 2018 in the Netherlands featured several invited speakers and other presentations addressing impactful scientific issues in global water management. Professor Adeloye was approached to chair a parallel session on Water Management in India and other semi-arid regions, based on their knowledge of the work being done in SusHi-Wat on sustainable water management in India. He gave the keynote paper in this parallel session and a manuscript has been submitted for consideration in a special issue of the Science for Total Environment (STOTEN)
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
URL https://dev.iwcconferences.com/program-tool/event/243
 
Description Skype meeting to discuss Sustainable Water Resources Programme integration activities (November 11, 2016) 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Study participants or study members
Results and Impact A skype meeting was arranged to discuss the overall progress of all three funded project under NERC/MoES Newton-Bhaba funded programme.

Participants
Adebayo J. Adeloye (Heriot-Watt University)
Gwyn Rees (Centre for Ecology & Hydrology)
Ana Mijic (Imperial College London)

Some of the issues and activities discussed are as follows:

Issues
1. Indian partner have not received funding yet.
2. Experiencing significant delay because of not willing to share the data.
3. NERC-MoES should discuss to solve the issue
4. Drafting the mail about this issue and discuss further about this in water quality workshop, Delhi.

Activities:
1. Organize joint workshop
2. Develop program webpage
3. Setting up the video for the documentation
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2016
 
Description Skype progress meeting for SusHi-Wat (February 23, 2017) 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Study participants or study members
Results and Impact Prof Adeloye initiated the project progress meeting through Skype on 23-02-17 at 12 30 UK time. The members attending included:

Bayo Adeloye, Kasiviswanathan - Heriot Watt University, UK
Ian Holman- Cranfield University, UK
Andrew Orr; Daniel Bannister - BAS, UK
Chandra Ojha; Hari Prassad- IIT Roorkee, India
Sanjay Jain - NIH Roorkee, India

1. The discussion was started with the issue of data availability and sharing. Dr Sanjay informed that he sent two letters requesting the latest flow data from BBMB, India. However, he has the flow data including Sutlej and Beas River up to the year 2010.
2. Dr Sanjay Jain has agreed to send flow data of three gauging stations located in Sutlej river basin including Rampur, Sunni and Kasol by next week. He also has agreed to send additional gauge station flow data of Beas river basin including Manali, Phuntar and Pandoh.
3. The Indian team informed that they have received the funding from MoES, hence the project has been officially started this week. The process of recruiting project staffs, research fellows is just started.
4. Dr Sanjay informed that MODIS snow cover map for Sutlej and Beas has been prepared up to the year 2014.
5. Dr Orr's group requires more of temperature/precipitation data to validate their model as currently those data is not available. It was suggested that a formal e-mail request be sent to Dr Jain on this, which Dr Jain has agreed to act upon once received.
6. Highlights of the project progress were presented by Dr Orr and group, Prof Holman, and Prof Adeloye and Group. In general, progress has been understandably slow largely due to the non-availability of some key data (UK) and the non-release of funds by the MoES (India). These issues are hopefully now resolved and progress should henceforth pick up. Bayo Adeloye informed that unfortunately Kasi, the PDRA working with him on SusHi-Wat will be leaving the post in March to take up a permanent Faculty Position at IIT-Mandi., India. He thanked Kasi for his tremendous contributions to the project over the short period he'd worked on it. A new PDRA will commence in March sometime.
7. Bayo Adeloye updated the meeting on the activities of the steering group of the SWR Programme Integration Activities. In particular, he mentioned the recent produced publicity Brochure which he encouraged members to disseminate and share as widely as possible; and the plan for a Programme website which will link to a SusHi-Wat web site. He then stressed it to the meeting the need to take active interests in the integration activities because this aspect of the Programme implementation has been devolved by the Funders to the Project Teams.
8. Communication: Bayo Adeloye requested that communications between members, including data sharing, should also be copied to him so that he is aware of what is going on. This is important so that he can respond holistically to issues relating to the project if the need arises.
9. Next Project meeting: This has been agreed to be over 3 days in the month of September, 2017 in the UK. Dr Orr has agreed to host the meeting at the BAS premises in Cambridge. Bayo Adeloye will circulate possible dates in due course.
10. It has been suggested to have skype meetings in every three months.
11. Overall, everyone appreciated the purpose of meeting and encouraged to share the information and more transparent.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2017
 
Description SusHi-Wat Kick-off Workshop at IIT Roorkee, India (19-21, October 2016) 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Study participants or study members
Results and Impact The aim of the workshop was to bring together SusHi-Wat UK and Indian collaborators to deliberate on the planned scientific and other activities for delivering a whole system model for the sustainable management of water resources in the Beas-Sultlej Basin. It featured presentations by work package leaders on modalities for carrying out the studies, summary of progress already recorded and challenges being faced. There were also presentations of a generic nature by two guest scientists. One aspect which was discussed in detail was how to move from the individual detailed process modelling into the whole system model. Issues relating to data were also discussed and as part of the efforts to get the data and also know better the BBMB, who are the main non-research partners, the investigators visited the main offices of BBMB at Chandigarh as part of the inception programme.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2016
URL https://web.sbe.hw.ac.uk/sites/sushiwat/documents/
 
Description Sushi-Wat Project Meeting, BAS, Cambridge, 2-4 October, 2017 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact The meeting brought together both the Indian and UK investigators to review progress being recorded in SusHi-Wat and to map out strategies for future phases of the project. In attendance as well were lead-investigators for the other two projects that together with SusHi-Wat formed the Sustainable Water Resources (SWR) Programme. There was also a representative of the UK-NERC, who together with Indian MoES, are providing funding for the projects. The Funders saw first hand the good progress being made in the implementation of the SusHi-Wat project and the efforts by its leaders to see that all three SWR projects are well and truly integrated. A major issue discussed at the meeting related to the time slippages caused by the late commencement of activities in India and the need for the UK components of the project to be given no-cost extensions so that the two works are synchronised. A formal application for no-cost extension was subsequently submitted and this has been granted. Finally, an official Flyer for the SWR programme developed as part of the integration activities was unveiled at the meeting and is now being used by the UK-NERC for the wider dissemination/publicity of the programme.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2017
 
Description Sushi-Wat Project Meeting, BBMB Campus, Chandigarh, India, Cambridge, 23-24 February, 2018 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact We used the opportunity of being in India for the mid-term review meeting to also hold a SusHi-Wat project meeting in India. The project meeting was specifically staged at the BBMB Campus in Chandigarh as a way of demonstrating our commitment to the active participation of our main end user/stakeholder and it achieved this purpose. A large number of representatives of the BBMB, including the Chairman, attended the meeting, in addition to other major water users in the Sutlej/Beas basins including the Punjab and Haryana irrigation departments. The meeting featured presentations by both the project investigators and the stakeholders representatives. Much more satisfying was the evidence provided by the stakeholders that the problem being tackled by SusHi-Wat is real and that they are ready and willing to work together with SusHi-Wat investigators to see to it that the project succeeds. The Chairman of BBMB gave an undertaking that all data required by the project that are within the custody of the BBMB will be made available, which is a significant development given that data (especially river data) availability issues have always been the bane of research in India.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
 
Description Visit by Academics from the Centre for Agricultural Water Research in China to Prof Adeloye, SusHi-Wat Lead PI (28 June 2018) 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact A high powered delegation from China Agricultural University visited SusHi-Wat project lead-PI on 28 June 2018 as part of the collaboration connected with Professor Adeloye's Visiting Professorship appointment by their University. The Chinese team was led by Professor Kang, Academician of the Chinese Academy of Science. Presentation were made on ongoing research activities on agricultural water management at their institution and discussions took place about how to deepen the collaboration with Heriot-Watt University, especially to include other colleagues of Professor Adeloye.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
URL https://www.egis.hw.ac.uk/sushiwat/visit-by-academics-from-the-centre-for-agricultural-water-researc...
 
Description Visit bydelegates from Department of Basic Industries, National Development & Reform Commission (NDRAC) of China (11 September 2018) 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact The delegation had visited the University to explore collaboration opportunities in all areas of activities within the civil engineering team at Heriot-Watt University. As the leader of the water management research team, Professor Adeloye (also the Lead-PI for SusHi-Wat) was invited along to meet the delegation and present on our international water research activities. This provided an opportunity to show-case the SusHi-Wat project in India to a completely different group of Chinese opinion formers. At the end of the presentation, the leader of the visiting team enquired to know if the new developments arising from the Indian project could be transferable to say Yangtze River basin in China. Professor Adeloye remarked that this was feasible and that discussions were already ongoing with colleagues at the China Agricultural University in Beijing where he is a Visiting Professor and with whom he maintains an active research collaboration.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
 
Description Visit of Project Investigators (Indian and UK) to study UK irrigated agriculture, 24 - 26 June 2019 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Study participants or study members
Results and Impact This 3-day study tour to the UK conducted by UK Irrigation Association Consultant and based at Peterborough offered first-hand experience of how agricultural irrigation is planned, practiced, and managed in the UK and particularly its importance in delivering high yields and quality produce into the UK and European food supply chain.The 3-day programme was designed to improve participants' knowledge of UK irrigation farm production systems, how irrigation water is regulated, how water resources and drainage are regulated, how produce is marketed from field to fork, and how innovations in irrigation technology are improving food production and food quality. This was facilitated by visits to a number of commercial farms in the Anglian region of England. The last day of the tour was devoted to a meeting of the project investigators, both Indian and UK, held at Cranfield University and featured presentations on the progress of the project. The seminar was attended by a number of postgraduate students, interested academics at Cranfield University. The planning of the finale Stakeholders Workshop to be held in India in February 2020 was begun at the meeting.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2019
URL https://www.egis.hw.ac.uk/sushiwat/visit-of-indian-delegation-to-study-uk-irrigated-agriculture/
 
Description Visiting Cranfield University 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Study participants or study members
Results and Impact Dau, the post-doctoral research associate who is relatively new to the project, had visited Cranfield University for discussions with Dr. Momblanch B. Andrea, the RA who'd been working on the project at Crainfield University for some time. The discussions centred on the WEAP model being developed at Cranfield and its use for the scenarios analysis that will be led by Dau at Heriot-Watt University. The meeting was over 3 days (12 - 14 December 2018) and was very useful.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
 
Description Visiting Professorship to China Agricultural University 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact My appointment as visiting Professor by the China Agricultural University (CAU) was in recognition of my internationally leading research work in water management, notably the UKRI-NERC research work in India, which the authorities at the CAU saw as something that will be useful for addressing the water management challenges in China. Apart from my interactions with academics and research students at the Centre for Water Management during which I reviewed and submitted joint manuscripts, a workshop was held at the University's Shiyanghe Experimental Station over 2 days discussing challenges of water management in irrigation and ways by which my Indian research could be applied.

I also delivered lectures to PhD and advanced Masters students on evapotranspiration modelling and measurements. The collaboration is leading to several joint publications and request for advice from both academics and students at the CAU
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
 
Description Visiting the Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham University 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Dau, a post-doctoral research associate on SusHi-Wat with Prof. Adebayo J. Adeloye had made a visit to the the Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham (AVV), India (20 - 24 September 2018) for collaborating with Asst.Prof. Soundharajan (Sound) in developing the reservoir operational model being developed as part of Sushi-Wat. Sound previously worked in a similar RA role in SusHi-Wat and an earlier UKRI-NERC funded project- MICCI- before relocating to India. Dau took the opportunity of being in India for the SWR Programme Workshop at Hyderabad to discuss modelling and scenario development, to make this visit before returning to the UK. The discussion mainly focused on multipurpose reservoirs optimization and also inflow forecasting analysis.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
 
Description Visiting the India Institute of Technology Mandi 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Postgraduate students
Results and Impact Dau, a post-doctoral research associate on SusHi-Wat with Prof. Adebayo J. Adeloye had made a visit to the India Institute of Technology Mandi (IIT-Mandi), India, (24-27th September, 2018) for collaborating with Asst.Prof. Kasiviswanathan (Kasi) in developing the reservoir operational model being developed as part of Sushi-Wat. Kasi previously worked in a similar RA role in SusHi-Wat for about 6 months before relocating to IIT-Mandi to take up a permanent position. Dau took the opportunity of being in India for the SWR Programme Workshop at Hyderabad to discuss modelling and scenario development, to make this visit before returning to the UK. The discussion mainly focused on multipurpose reservoirs optimization and also inflow forecasting analysis. During his visit, Dau also delivered a talk to IIT-Mandi scholars about climate change impacts in the North region of India, especially, the Himalayan watershed area.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018