Hydrological process monitoring for springshed management in the Indian Himalayan region: field observatory and reference database

Abstract

The Indian Himalayan Region (IHR) has experienced accelerated changes in climatic seasonality and land use–land cover. Researchers envision understanding the process controls of water fluxes and their hydro-geological and ecological implications but scarce in situ data in the IHR hinders scientific research. Our work discusses an integrative technique for springshed monitoring for insights into hydrological processes and understanding integrated measurement strategies. Initial emphasis was on instrumentation and data collection from two headwater watersheds, instrumented with advanced field-based monitoring platforms in Pauri-Garhwal and Almora districts of Uttarakhand. We describe the observatory setup and discuss the pilot sites’ general characteristics followed by the monitoring concept, infrastructure and initial datasets of the pilot sites. The social dimension of the spring water use and governance is also analysed in brief. Such a springshed management approach is the way forward for water security in the IHR.