ISSN 00978078, Water Resources, 2010, Vol. 37, No. 5, pp. 623–637. © Pleiades Publishing, Ltd., 2010.

WATER RESOURCES AND THE REGIME

OF WATER BODIES

Use of Geoinformatics for InterBasin Water Transfer Assessment1

Niladri Guptaa, Petter Pilesjob, and Ben Maathuisc
a
School of Geography, University of Southampton,
+44(0) 7919315113 Southampton, Highfield, Southampton S0171BJ, UK
b G1S Centre, Lund University, +4646222954 Solvetrotan 12, S223, 62, Lund, Sweden
c
International Institute for GeoInformation Science and Earth Observation,
+31534874391 7500 AA, Enschede, the Netherlands
Received July 2, 2009

Abstract—Fresh water availability and demand are unevenly distributed both temporally and geographically.
Furthermore, the availability of fresh water has remained more or less constant, while the demand for clean
water is steadily increasing. With demand surpassing supply, an integrated water resource management
approach is required to ensure even distribution of potable water to all levels of society while protecting the
environment. Interbasin water transfer (IBWT) is an approach being applied in various countries around the
world, with varying environmental and social implications. The Interlinking of Rivers (ILR) scheme is an
example of such a project being planned in India. The research described in this paper was based on the ILR
project and includes an assessment of the IBWT programme in some of the tributaries of the Brahmaputra
and Ganga Rivers in the eastern part of India, covering the district of Jalpaiguri, West Bengal, India. Geoin
formation has been used in association with physical and socioeconomic factors to identify potential dam
and reservoir sites and to delineate the optimal route for canals to transfer water from the Brahmaputra basin
to the Ganga basin for further transportation to the waterdeficient regions of India.

Keywords: environment, interbasin, reservoir sites, canal.

DOI: 10.1134/S0097807810050039

1
In some areas of the world, especially regions with
high population density and intense economic activity,
the demand for fresh water has overtaken the supply.
An integrated water resource management approach is
required to balance environmental, social and eco
nomic issues, rather than the conventional technique
of “hydraulic mission” [9], It was suggested that such
an approach would increase the efficiency of water use
and enable society to achieve sustainability, while opti
mising the economic return on water. They also
pointed out that, in river basins where demand exceeds
supply, new sources of water could be found either by
desalinating sea water or transferring water from a
neighbouring basin where there is a surplus using
interbasin water transfer (IBWT), which is becoming
a common solution. IBWT has been undertaken in
several countries with various environment and socio
economic implications, for instance the USA, China
and Russia.
India is a large subcontinent and, as a result, the
challenges it faces are also on a large scale. Water
resources are unevenly distributed due to variations in
the geographical and temporal distribution of rainfall.
This leads to drought in some parts of the country and
floods in others. Providing water during droughts and
1 The article is published in the original.
preventing floods in the monsoon season have always
been a challenge.
The Indian river system, which forms the lifeline of
the country, can be divided into two components: the
Himalayan component, the sources of which are the
glaciers of the Himalayas and the monsoon rains, and
the peninsular component, consisting of water mainly
from the monsoon rains. There is surplus water in the
Himalayan component and partial deficit in the pen
insular component, especially during the dry season,
resulting in inundation of agricultural land in areas
with high precipitation and water scarcity and crop
failure in areas with low precipitation.
Recently, the national water policy of Government
of India points to a national perspective to undertake
such interbasin water transfer. Water transfer is based
on the view that the transfer of surplus water from one
river basin to another, could permanently solve the
problems of droughts and floods, thus increasing food
grain production [1]. Thirty possible links between the
major rivers in India, 14 in the Himalayan component
and 16 in the peninsular component, have thus been
proposed. These were based on earlier proposals, in
1972 by K.L. Rao for the National Water Grid [20],
and in 1977 by Captain Dastur for the Garland Canal
Project. These earlier projects were shelved due to a

623
624 NILADRI GUPTA et al.
lack of technical feasibility, desirability and economic
viability [3].
The Ganga and Brahmaputra basins (the two major
river basins in India) constitute a major part of the
Himalayan component. There is a surplus of water in
these two river basins and floods are therefore a recur
ring phenomenon. A significant reduction in regional
imbalance could be achieved by storing these water
resources in reservoirs, and transferring the excess
water to other parts of the country via canals. However,
it is not known whether such a project would actually
prevent drought, or merely move the problem from
one place to another. Many other questions also
remain.
Will it be necessary to relocate people, and if so,
how many?
Are there any smallscale alternatives to engineer
ing on this grand scale?
Is the terrain suitable for building canals to transfer
the water?
What types of engineering structures are required,
and where can they be located?
What will the effect of the project be on the envi
ronment?
How much water will actually be made available?
The project thus requires a multidisciplinary
approach.
Presently, IBWT accounts for about 540 × 109 m3
water per year, i.e. 14% of all global withdrawal, and
there are proposals for an additional 940 × 109 m3 per
year [11]. These volumes together form only a quarter
of the projected need for water withdrawal by 2025,
and are thus not considered significant in terms of
water resource management. Interbasin water trans
fer has effects on both the donor and recipient basins.
Such projects are also limited by the geoenvironmen
tal and socioeconomic conditions in the area. Expe
riences of water transfer projects such as the Central
Valley Project in the USA and the Aral Sea Project in
the former USSR have revealed some of the limita
tions and consequences of such projects [14, 18, 4, 8].
Experts in the field have acknowledged that there
may not be any real surplus of water despite the fact
that there are real shortages [12]. Thus, an integrated
water resources management plan is required to
ensure that both water and profits are properly distrib
uted. The sustainability of IBWT programmes must be
assessed in terms of design, operation and manage
ment.
According to the ILR project, the excess water
from the Ganga and Brahmaputra rivers and their trib
utaries must be transported through the Himalayan
foothill region, which is structurally characterized by
EW trending faults/lineaments parallel to the Hima
layan trend, and transverse faults trending NS, NW
SE and NESW running across the Himalayan trend
(see Fig. 1). A few of these faults have been shown to
be active in geologically recent times, while others are
only thought to be active. These networks of faults/lin
eaments are considered to be a major contributor to
the instability of this region [5]. Any movement or
adjustment along these structural elements will have
an effect on river geomorphology in the area, e.g. shift
ing river courses, which can be observed in the rivers
included in the ILR project. The aims of this study
were
to investigate the geomorphology, geology, land use
and drainage characteristics of the area using multi
temporal and multisensor satellite data;
to identify suitable reservoir sites and to determine
the storage capacity of the major tributaries traversing
the study area using a numerical method and available
elevation data from a Digital Elevation Model (DEM)
of NASA’s Shuttle Radar Topographic Mission
(SRTM);
to determine possible routes of the link canal for
IBWT;
to evaluate the possible benefits of the transported
water in terms of usage assuming a specific transfer
rate, and taking losses during transportation and
decrease in reservoir capacity into account.
STUDY AREA
The area studied is located in the Jalpaiguri district
in the state of West Bengal, in the eastern part of India
(Fig. 1).
The area is located between 26°16′ and 27°0′N and
88°4 and 89°53′E, covering an area of about 6190 km2.
It is bounded by the foothills of the Himalayas in the
north and northwest and by the alluvial plains of the
Ganga and Brahmaputra rivers in the south and east.
The climate varies from sub tropical in the northern
part to humid sub tropical in the southern part. The
annual rainfall is unevenly distributed. The mean
annual rainfall varies from 3160 mm in the monsoon
season (May–October) to 201 mm in the dry period
(November–April). The Mahananda River is the only
major river of the Ganga basin and the Teesta,
Jaldhaka, Torsa, Raidak and Sankosh are the major
rivers of the Brahmaputra basin within the area stud
ied.
Geomorphologically, the area is part of the Teesta,
Jaldhaka and Torsa interfluve belt of North Bengal.
Locally, the northern part of the area is called “Duars”
and is part of the Piedmont plains at the foothills of the
Himalayas. These are gradually transformed into allu
vial plains further south. The Piedmont region is dis
sected by the major rivers and the tributaries consid
WATER RESOURCES Vol. 37 No. 5 2010
 N
g

WATER RESOURCES
27°0′00″N W E n B
i h
S l
e u

Vol. 37
t a
e n

No. 5
r
R.Murti
26°45′0″N

2010
a
R.Mahananda
R.Kaljani R.Sankos

D
R.Jaldhaka R.Torsa
A s s

R.Raidak
a m

B
26°30′0″N o c h
a R.Teesta b
n K
e
g Index h
a r
Rock type
International

l
Boundary Baikunthapur Formation Canal
h State Boundary MitialiChalsa Formation River
District Boundary

a
SamsingThalijora

s
Source: GSI Geology Map Sandy Area
Railways Formation Scale
SOI Topo Map 1975 Roads Shagaon Formation
26°15′0″N IRS P6 LISS III, Nov. 2005 d e 0 5 10 20 30 40
Faults/Lineaments SubHimalayan Siwaliks
SRTM Data kilometres

88°30′00″E 88°45′0″E 89°0′0″E 89°15′0″E 89°30′0″E 89°45′0″E

USE OF GEOINFORMATICS FOR INTERBASIN WATER TRANSFER ASSESSMENT

Fig. 1. The area studied, showing the lineaments identified from IRS P6 satellite sensor LISS III (15 Nov., 2005) and DEM generated from SRTM data (90 m resolution) super
imposed on the geology.
625
626 NILADRI GUPTA et al.
ered in this study. The northern part of the area is char
acterized by faninfan morphology and the ancient
deposits are fluvioglacial in origin, as evidenced by
huge boulders. Later fluvial activity can be observed in
the form of terraces, where coarse pebbles to clay size
materials are found. Rill and gully erosion over a long
period of time has produced deposits with a dissected
undulating surface. In the alluvial plains levees, back
swamps and oxbow lakes are dominant, and all consist
mainly of recent sediments. The area is distinctly dif
ferent from the rest of the frontal Himalayas and is
characterized by the absence of large EW flowing riv
ers like the Ganga to the west and the Brahmaputra to
the east. Instead, huge fans and flood plains have
evolved from southerly flowing rivers such as the
Teesta and the Mahananda [5].
Geologically, the Piedmont zone, which forms the
northern part of the study area, can be divided into 5
morphostratigraphic units based on their oxidation
index, the colour of the sediments in the weathering
zone and the colour of the topsoil [5]. The study area
has been influenced by tectonic activity that took
place in the eastern Himalayas from the Pliocene to
recent times [10]. The northern part of the area is
characterized by alluvial fan deposits which have coa
lesced to form the Piedmont zone.
The land use and land cover of the study area also
reflect the characteristics of the terrain. The northern
part is mainly covered by dense forest with occasional
degraded forest, encroachments and tea plantations in
the hills and the fan lobe areas, while the southern part
is used for agricultural purposes, with one or two crops
a year, and occasional scrubland.
METHODOLOGY
The methodology was based on the problems,
aims, the data available, and technological knowhow
and its implementation. Various methods can be used
to identify possible locations for dams and reservoirs,
and to determine the best route of canals. The choice
of method depends on the drainage characteristics and
the terrain, as well as the technology appropriate for a
particular environment. Details of the approach
adopted are shown in the form of flow diagram in
Fig. 2.
The procedure was divided into 3 stages. Stage I
deals with the terrain analysis (TA) required for reser
voir location. Thematic maps were generated from
remote sensing data and a multicriteria analysis was
undertaken using the thematic information to identify
possible dam and reservoir sites. Stage II deals with the
estimation of reservoir storage capacity in a GIS
framework in which SRTM data were used as the input
for an iterative numerical propagation method to
determine the spatial extent of the reservoir and fac
tors related to reservoir capacity. The final stage is con
cerned with identifying the best route for canals to
transport the water from the reservoirs, with the ulti
mate aim of joining the new canal to the existing canal
system between the Teesta and the Mahananda basins.
Terrain Analysis and Reservoir Location
The method used to identify potential sites for res
ervoirs takes into account both the physical suitability
and the socioeconomic suitability of the location.
Available IRS 1D LISS III, IRS P6 LISS III, and
LANDSAT TM data were processed together with
Survey of India (SOI) topographical maps and other
ancillary data, using visual or digital classification
techniques to generate prefield thematic maps per
taining to geomorphology, land use/land cover and
drainage of the area on a scale of 1 : 50000. The geol
ogy map was generated by scaling up the Geological
Survey of India (GSI) geological map on the scale of
1 : 250000 to 1 : 50000 and updating it using satellite
data. The prefield thematic maps thus generated were
then validated by ground truthing to generate the final
geomorphology, geology, drainage and land use/land
cover maps. These thematic maps were used to asses
the physical suitability of potential reservoir sites and
were used as input to the multicriteria analysis. The
canal transport network and the village maps were
derived from the SOI topographical maps updated
with satellite data. These were used as socioeconomic
suitability inputs for the multicriteria analysis
(MCA). The detailed methodology is illustrated in
Fig. 3.
Two GISbased approaches can be adopted for ter
rain analysis and multicriteria analysis (TA and
MCA) to evaluate spatial features and suitable loca
tions for reservoirs [16]: one, a subjective, knowledge
driven approach that emphasizes expert knowledge in
the matter, and the other a datadriven approach
employing objective criteria and weighting. In the
present case a datadriven approach was adopted as it
provides adequate information to identify the section
of the river suitable for the location of the dam and the
reservoir. Table 1 lists the criteria applied in the MCA
to identify suitable locations for dams and reservoirs
based on certain considerations.
Calculation of the Reservoir Volume
A dam was created at each potential reservoir loca
tion identified in Stage I of the procedure, taking into
consideration dam height, freeboard and designed
water level. The dams at each potential reservoir loca
tion were converted into a raster and then integrated
with the available DEM data (SRTM Version 3) [21].
The SRTM data had already been preprocessed to fill
the voids using an interpolative technique, i.e. the
TOPOGRID algorithm of Arc/Info, providing a
seamless elevation dataset of 5 by 5 degree tiles. To
determine the areal extent of the reservoir, a neigh
bourhood connectivity function of ILWIS software
[13] was used to help identify all neighbouring pixels in
WATER RESOURCES Vol. 37 No. 5 2010
 USE OF GEOINFORMATICS FOR INTERBASIN WATER TRANSFER ASSESSMENT 627

Satellite data
+
Ancillary data

Digital/Visual
interpretation
STAGE–I

Generation of
thematic maps

Optimal canal route

STAGE–III
Multicriteria Potential
analysis reservoil
sites

DEM
(SRTM Data)

Neighbouhood
function
STAGE–II

(Raster analysis)

Flooded area
Preferred

map
locations
dam

Reservoir
capacity
atatistics

Fig. 2. Overall research methodology.

the DEM with an elevation lower than or equal to the
specified water level of the reservoir behind the dam
[7, 2, 15]. Figure 4 illustrates the process.
The reservoir depth was calculated by subtract
ing the elevation contained in the DEM from the
reservoir water level. The reservoir capacity was
then determined by integrating the reservoir depth
(the value for each pixel) over the total inundated
area. The most suitable dam and reservoir locations
were selected based on the output of the neighbour
hood function. The detailed methodology is illus
trated in Fig. 5.

WATER RESOURCES Vol. 37 No. 5 2010

628 NILADRI GUPTA et al.

RS Data: Geocoded
IRS P6 LISS III (2006)
IRS 1D LISS III (2001)
LANDSAT TM (1990) Preparation of prefield
Visual interpreatation thematic maps in 1:50000
and/digital scale viz/ geomorphology,
classification geology, drainage, landuse
SOI toposheet (1:50000 scale)
Ancillary data
Ground verification
and/
data collection
Preparation of
administrative and
transport network Final geomorphology map

Final geology map

Updation
Final drainage map
Final land use/land cover
map
Final village map

Final transport
map Terrarn analysis &
classification

Socio – Muiti criteria analysis Physical

economic
suitabiloty suitability

Potential sites of
reservoirs

Fig. 3. Method used for terrain analysis and the identification of sites suitable for the location of dams and reservoirs.

Criteria for Optimal Canal Routing
After determining the suitable locations for reser
voirs based on estimates of the dam height and reser
voir storage capacity, possible canal routes were iden
tified based on the gradient of the terrain for the trans
port of water by gravity. The ultimate aim was to join
the proposed canal to the existing TeestaMahananda
canal. The fan lobes of the region were also taken into
consideration as it is not always possible to build canals
through the lobes. A transfer rate from each reservoir
was estimated based on the storage capacity of each
reservoir and the number of days the flow rate could be
maintained to accommodate the dry season’s lower
flow. The dimensions of the proposed main link canal,
divided into 5 sections, were based on the water trans
fer rate from each reservoir to the main link canal. The
calculation was carried out assuming normal flow
depth in a rectangular channel where the slope of the
water surface and channel bottom is same, depth
remaining constant and no acceleration of flow
occurs. A MS Excel based application which uses an
iterative process and Secant’s method was used for this
purpose [17].
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Terrain Analysis and MultiCriteria Analysis
Both the physical and the socioeconomic suitabil
ity were considered in the terrain analysis and the
multicriteria analysis. The information on which
physical suitability was determined included the land
use map, the geomorphology map, the geology map,

WATER RESOURCES Vol. 37 No. 5 2010

 USE OF GEOINFORMATICS FOR INTERBASIN WATER TRANSFER ASSESSMENT 629

Table 1. Key Criteria for dam site selection and the underlying condition considered for different thematic information
used for MCA
Thematic Layer Criteria for dam site selection Underlying condition
Settlement Not to be located near or within 1 Km settlement area Safety (to avoid flooding)
Transport Not to be located within 1 km of major roads or railroad Safety (to avoid flooding and disruption of commu
Network nication)
DEM To be located above 110 m elevation New canal alignment is to be connected to the exist
ing Teesta – Mahananda link canal.
Slope To be located in a slope <12% Hydraulic condition/Stability
Structure To be located at a distance >500 m Stability
of an existing lineament/fault scarp
Drainage Preferably on river bed To have sufficient reservoir capacity
Geomorphology To be located avoiding low altitude fan/alluvial plain Hydraulic condition/Stability

the structural map, the slope map and the DEM. The
socioeconomic suitability was assessed based on the
settlement map and the transport network map. The
multicriteria analysis involved raster analysis in which
all the input maps were converted into rasters. Each
geomorphic unit was weighted with a value from 0 to 5:
a value of 0 being assigned to alluvial plains (least suit
able) and a value of 3 to midaltitude intermediate fans
(reasonably suitable). Of the 15 land use classes iden
tified, 5 major classes were considered to be likely to be
affected by the reservoir, and agricultural land was
assigned a weight of 0 (least suitable), and river beds a
weight of 5 (most suitable). A Boolean operation was
applied to the elevation and slope data in which it was
required that the reservoirs be located above an alti
tude of 110 m and the slope <12%. The pixel values
that satisfied the criteria were given assigned the value
1 (suitable) and those that did not were assigned a
value of 0 (unsuitable) to identify the physically suit
able locations for reservoirs and dams. Similarly, to
identify sites that were socioeconomically suitable a
buffer zone was created around roads and railways and
settlements (as listed in Table 1). Areas within the
buffer zone were considered unsuitable (and assigned
a value of 0) while those outside the buffer zone were
considered suitable (and assigned a value of 1). The
outcome was presented in the form of a composite
suitability map showing the potential dam and reser
voir locations as can be seen in Fig. 6.
TA and MCA were used to identify potential dam
and reservoir sites in the study area. Five sites were
found. The existing barrage on the river Teesta (Dam 1)
was used to test the iterative propagation method and
the capacity of the existing reservoir was estimated.
Other potential reservoir locations were identified on the
tributaries of the Jaldhaka (Dam 2), Murti (Dam 3),
Torsa (Dam 4) and Kaljani (Dam 5) rivers.
According to the results of the TA and MCA, one
of the five identified sites was not suitable (Dam 3) as
the land cover on both sides of the river was forest,
which has a high weighting factor. However, the site
was suitable with regard to the slope and drainage
characteristics, so a dam was proposed here and the
reservoir volume was estimated.
Although Dam A was suitable according to the
multicriteria analysis, the reservoir capacity was not
sufficiently high and this location was therefore not
considered.

Lower but not

connected

Freeboard
Dam height

Design water
Reservoir

level
level

Dam
Terrain

Fig. 4. Determination of the areal extent of a reservoir using topography and a neighbourhood connectivity operator [7].

WATER RESOURCES Vol. 37 No. 5 2010

630 NILADRI GUPTA et al.

Dam site

Designed
Dam height Free board water
level

Mark cells with

location of dam

Combine with DEM

DEM (SRTM Data V3)

Map with marked Compare with

DEM (= future reservoir elevation of terrain
+ area) cell upstream (neighbourhood
Dam site
of dam site calculation)

Mark cell < = water

level of marked cells

NO

YES Elevation of
Flooded neighbouring cell >
area map water level of marked
cell (s)

Storage
capacity/
Reservoir
volume

Fig. 5. Methodology for reservoir map creation and volume calculation from the DEM using the iterative propagation method [7].

Estimation of Reservoir Capacity
A cell was defined behind the dam, and an algo
rithm was used to identify all the neighbouring cells
with an elevation lower than or equal to the specified
reservoir water level. The cells that satisfied this condi
tion were labelled. The algorithm was then applied to
the labelled neighbouring cells. The process was
repeated until no more connected cells had an eleva
tion lower than or equal to the required level. All the
identified cells were labelled as being flooded.
The extent and capacity of the reservoirs were
determined for dams with three different levels, and

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Dam 2 WEST BENGAL
J A

No. 5
Dam A

R
N

A
Dam 3

2010
Dam 1 Dam 4
26°45′0″N Dam 5
A

D
Teesta Jaldhaka
S

Torsa
S

Raidak
B
A M

A
26°30′0″N
N O C
G H
K B R

L
E H A

A
Legend

D
E Not Suitable for Reservoir
26°15′0″N H Scale Location
S Suitable for Reservoir Location
Source: SRTM Version 3 Data 0 5 10 20 30 40
Thematic Maps used in MCA Kilomets Dam Location
SOI Topo Map, 1975

88°15′0″E 88°30′0″E 88°45′0″E 89°0′0″E 89°15′0″E 89°30′0″E 89°45′0″E

USE OF GEOINFORMATICS FOR INTERBASIN WATER TRANSFER ASSESSMENT

Fig. 6. Possible locations of reservoirs based on multicriteria analysis and the hydrological character of the study area.
631
632 NILADRI GUPTA et al.

N
W E
S
N
26°52′30′′ Reservoir extent on R. Teesta

26°47′0′′

Dam hidht 13 m
Dam hidht 18 m
26°41′30′′ Dam hidht 22 m
0 5 10 km

88°29′30′′ 88°35′0′′ 88°40′30″ E

Fig. 7. Areal extent of the reservoir behind Dam 1 on the River Teesta for different dam heights superimposed on the IRS P6 LISS
III data.

three reservoir extent maps were created for each
potential site. The catchment area of the rivers and the
tributaries from the dam locations were determined
from the drainage map generated from the DEM. The
“DEM Hydroparameterization” module of ILWIS
was used [13]. The dam location was used to delineate
the catchment area upstream of the dam. Figure 7
shows the extent of the reservoir when Dam 1 on the
River Teesta has three different levels. The calculated
volumes of the reservoir at different dam height on the
river Teesta (Dam 1) are shown in Fig. 8. Similar plots
were made for the reservoirs on the other rivers. In all
cases an almost linear relationship was found between
the dam height and the reservoir capacity, and there
fore no intermediate levels were calculated, as shown
by the regression equation in Fig. 8.
Dam 1 – River Teesta
Capacity (milion m3)
Similar reservoir extent maps were generated for
three different dam heights at the other four potential
locations. The runoff was assumed to be 50% of the
mean annual precipitation. The mean annual precipi
tation was assumed to be the same for all the catch
ment areas and was determined as the mean of the
mean annual precipitation recorded at four weather
stations in the study area (3517 mm per year). The
present Teesta barrage has a transfer rate of about
30 m3 s–1, which is equivalent to about 946 million m3
per year. The total runoff available (50% of the mean
annual precipitation in the study area) is about
15360 million m3. Thus, the total volume of water
transferred is about 6% of the total runoff. The volume
of water available through runoff, the maximum stor
age capacity of the reservoir and the percentage of run
off utilized for storage was estimated for each of the
five reservoirs. Assuming a flow rate of 20 m3 s–1 from
the other 4 reservoirs ~ 5 m3 s–1 from each (that from
the River Teesta being 30 m3 s–1 ) the amount of water
available each day would be about 50 m3 s–1. With a

1000
800 total available reservoir capacity of 972 million m3,
Reservoir

water would be available for only 225 days in a year.

600
400 Since this scenario did not provide sufficient water
y = 76.903x – 831.46
200 for a whole year, another configuration was investi
R2 = 0.9324 gated. Two of the existing reservoirs, one on a tributary
0
12 14 16 18 20 22 24 of the River Jaldhaka (Dam 2) and the other on River
Dam Height (m) Torsa (Dam 4), were relocated upstream at the north
ern edge of the study area, and one of the reservoirs on
the River Kaljani (Dam 5) was rejected. Correspond
Fig. 8. Reservoir storage capacity curve for different dam ing estimates were made of the volume of water avail
heights on R. Teesta as derived from digital elevation able through runoff, the maximum storage capacity of
model. the reservoirs and the percentage of runoff being uti

WATER RESOURCES Vol. 37 No. 5 2010

 USE OF GEOINFORMATICS FOR INTERBASIN WATER TRANSFER ASSESSMENT
lized for storage in each of the four reservoirs. The
assumptions were the same as used above. In this case,
it was found that, assuming a water transfer of 50 m3 s–1,
it would be possible to supply water for a maximum of
276 days.
A third alternative was then investigated in which
two more reservoirs were located at two new locations,
one on the River Raidak (New Dam 5) instead of River
Kaljani (Dam 5) and the other on the River Sankosh
(Dam 6). Both these rivers flow through the study
area, but no suitable reservoir site was found within the
study area using TA and MCA. The new reservoirs
were thus located on these two rivers further upstream,
outside the study area. Besides being outside the study
area, the reservoir extended over the international
boundary into Bhutan. In this case, it was found that
the stored water would be able to supply water for a
maximum of 345 days, which is almost the whole year.
Estimates of the water availability from each of the
six proposed reservoirs in the third alternative can be
found in Table 2. The calculations indicate that the
reservoirs behind Dam 1 on the River Teesta could
supply water for almost a year with the present flow
rate of the Teesta canal, while the reservoirs at Dam 4
and Dam 6 could supply water at a flow rate of more
than 5 m3 s–1. The reservoir at Dam 5 could supply
water on a continuous basis if the transfer rate were
3 m3 s–1, while those at Dam 2 and Dam 3 could supply
water almost all the year with a combined flow rate of
5 m3 s–1.
It was found in all the alternatives that the percent
age of runoff stored for transfer from each reservoir did
not exceed 8% of the total amount of water available
from runoff, which was about 2% more than the value
assumed (6% runoff being transferred from the present
Teesta reservoir at a rate of 30 m3 s–1). This indicates
that the natural flow of the river downstream would
not be hampered to any great extent. The only excep
tion was the reservoir behind Dam 2 on the tributary of
the River Jadhaka, which had about 22.5% of runoff
transferred. In this case as the reservoir and the dam
were located on one of the tributaries of the main River
Jaldhaka, the water available downstream in the river
would not be affected to any great extent as the other
tributaries would still feed the main river.
Optimal Route for the Link Canal
The ultimate aim is to merge the proposed canal
with the existing TeestaMahananda link canal
(TMLC). An optimal route was found, taking into
consideration the slope, roughness and character of
the terrain, especially the midaltitude intermediate
fan, which was avoided as far as possible. Although the
land use in the area should be taken into consider
ation, especially forested areas, tea plantations and
agricultural land, it was not possible to avoid all the
above land use categories due to the location of the
reservoirs (see Fig. 9). The proposed main link canal
WATER RESOURCES Vol. 37 No. 5 2010
633
Table 2. Water availability from each reservoir in 3rd Scenario
considering different transfer rates
Dam Q out per day, No. of
no.
River
(m3 s–1) days
1 Teesta 30 355
Jaldhaka Tributary 2 296
2 (Upstream new location)
3 197
5 118
3 Murti 2 124
3 82
5 49
4 Torsa (Upstream new location) 5 453
5 Raidak (Outside area) 3 416
5 250
6 Sankosh (Outside area) 5 446
was divided into five sections of different dimensions
according to the amount of water being transferred
from each reservoir.
As the total transfer rate was assumed to be 50 m3 s–1
and the existing TMLC had a capacity of about
30 m3 s–1, the rest of the reservoirs would contribute
about 20 m3 s–1. Taking this into consideration a trans
fer rate of 6 m3 s–1 was assumed for the first section of
the canal with input from the River Sankosh (Dam 6)
to the proposed main link canal. An additional flow of
4 m3 s–1 was added to the second section of the canal
from the River Raidak (New Dam 5), while a flow of
5 m3 s–1 was added to each of the third and fourth sec
tions of the canal, from the River Torsa (Dam 4) and
combined transfer from the River Murti (Dam 3) and
the tributary of the River Jaldhaka (Dam 2), respec
tively. Section 5 of the canal was assigned a flow rate of
50 m3 s–1 considering the input of 30 m3 s–1 from the
River Teesta (Dam 1). A schematic diagram of the link
canal and the contributions from each reservoir on the
rivers is shown in Fig. 10. Based on the flow rate from
each reservoir the dimensions of the canal were calcu
lated using an iterative process by considering normal
flow depth in a rectangular channel using Secant’s
method [17]. The estimated dimensions of the pro
posed link canal are given in Table 3. An average flow
velocity of 1 m s–1 was assumed in the proposed link
canal.
Assessment of IBWT
An assessment of the possible utilization of the
water available in the three alternatives described
above was made, based on the following two assump
tions:
634 NILADRI GUPTA et al.

W
Dam 2 New E
270′0″N G B S
I N
L H
E Dam 4 New
U T
E A
J
N
Dam 1
D A R

Section 4 Section 3 Dam 6

Dam 5
26°45′0″N Section 5
Section 1
Section 2

A S S A M
Torsa
Mahananda
Jaldhaka Raidak
B

Teesta
Sankosh
A

26°30′0″N
N
G
L
A

Legend
Link Abandoned Channel Land wih scrub INDIA
Teesta (DAM1) Urban Area Open Spaces
D

Jaldhaka Tributary River Island

(DAM2 NEW) Canal
Murti (DAM3) Kharif River
H

26°15′0″N E Torsa (DAM4 NEW) Dense Forest Scrub Forest

S Raidak (DAM5) Forest Plantation Villages
Scale Kharif + Rabi
Sankosh (DAM6) (double Cropping) Tea Gardens
0 3.75 7.5 15 22.5 30 Distriet Boundary Ponds/Tanks Source: IRS P6 LISS III 2005, Jan 2006
Kilometrs WEST BENGAL
SOI Topo Map 1975 (1: 50000 scale)

88°30′0″E 88°45′0″E 89°0′0″E 89°15′0″E 89°30′0″ 89°45′0″E

Fig. 9. Map showing proposed canal route superimposed on the land use and land cover map.

the amount of water required for irrigation was 2 mm
per day (based on a requirement of 2 cm over a 10day
period);
70–135 litres of water are consumed per person per
day for domestic use, the lower value in rural areas and
the higher value in urban areas [22].
The loss of water due to evaporation and during
conveyance was also considered, and was assumed to
be 10%, although the actual loss would vary with
changing seasons, climatic conditions and the aging of
the canal. Reductions in reservoir capacity over time
were assumed to vary from 10 to 40% as it has been
found in earlier studies that the rivers in the study area
carry a great deal of sediments [5, 6]. As the reservoirs
are located in the Piedmont zone heavy silting can be
expected. Figure 11a shows the area that can be irri
gated if 40% of the available water is used for irrigation
and Fig. 11b – the number of days per year water will
be available if 20% of the available water is used for
human consumption.
The results indicate that if water were available at a
discharge rate of 50 m3s–1 then a total of 4.32 million m3
water would be available daily. If 40% of the available
water were used for irrigation a total of 2160 km2 could
be irrigated daily and if 20% were used for human con
sumption, water could be provided for 12.34 million

Table 3. Estimated dimensions of the proposed link canal using reiterative method
Canal Sections Section 1 Section 2 Section 3 Section 4 Section 5
Factors
Transfer Rate, m3 s–1 6 10 15 20 50
Manning Roughness, n 0.04 0.04 0.04 0.04 0.04
Slope m m–1 0.002 0.0017 0.00125 0.001 0.00055
Width of Canal m 3 4 5 6 9
Flow depth m 1.99 2.31 2.81 3.16 5.25
Flow Velocity m s–1 1.01 1.08 1.07 1.05 1.06

WATER RESOURCES Vol. 37 No. 5 2010

 USE OF GEOINFORMATICS FOR INTERBASIN WATER TRANSFER ASSESSMENT
DAM 2 NEW
(R. Jaldhaka
Tributary)
DAM 1 (R. Teesta)
3 m3/s
DAM 3 (R. Murti)
30 m3/s
2 m3/s
Section 5
Fig. 10. Estimated dimensions of the proposed link canal.
people if they used 70 litres per day, or 6.4 million peo
ple if they used 135 litres per day.
In reality, the water would be used for many other
purposes apart from irrigation and human consump
tion, such as power generation and in industry, but this
preliminary assessment gives an idea of the benefits of
the planned ILR project.
Limitations of the Methodology
The present methodology has the following main
limitations.
The terrain analysis and multicriteria analysis
included only some of the factors affecting site selec
tion such as slope, drainage, geomorphology, geology,
structure and land use regarding physical suitability
and village location and transport networks regarding
socioeconomic suitability. In reality, other factors such
as the kind of drainage, drainage discharge, soil type
and soil character would be required in the multicri
teria assessment.
The SRTM data used as the input for elevation had
a resolution of 90 m and were taken from a global
dataset. This type of dataset is useful for preliminary
assessments of possible reservoir locations, but when
WATER RESOURCES Vol. 37 No. 5 2010
635
DAM 6
(R. Sankosh)
DAM 5
DAM 4 NEW (R. Raidak)
(R. Torsa)
6 m3/s
4 m3/s
5 m3/s
LINK
L
CANA
Section 1
Section 2
Section 3
Section 4
considering specific potential reservoir locations,
highresolution elevation data are essential as the
SRTM data may underestimate slope steepness [19]
resulting in over or underestimation of the reservoir
capacity. The uncertainties related to elevation infor
mation and the effects of radarreflective surfaces were
not considered in the present study.
Neither the slope nor the condition of the terrain
was considered in detail when determining the most
suitable route of the link canal. The alternative pro
posed was the result of using a methodology with lim
ited ground data.
The assessment of the utilization of the water made
available was based on certain assumptions regarding
water transfer and reservoir capacity. The actual avail
ability in the study area was not determined. The
transfer volume was also assumed and only irrigation
and human consumption were considered. In reality,
the water will also be used for other purposes.
CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Interbasin water transfer is being considered a
dominant solution to cope with the deficit of water in
some major river basins of the world. The ILR project
636
Irrigated Area (million km2)
0.30
0.25
0.20
0.15
0.10
0.05
0 0
1 2
Scenario
Fig. 11. a  Estimates of the area that can be irrigated in 3 scenarios assuming 40% of the available water is used for irrigation, and
b  estimated number of days of water availability in 3 scenarios for a rural population of 12.34 million consuming 70 litres/day or
an urban population of 6.4 million consuming 135 litres per day, taking into consideration a reduction in reservoir capacity
(10⎯40%) due to silting and a 10% loss due to evaporation and conveyance losses.
is an example of this. In this study, an approach was
developed to make a preliminary assessment of IBWT
using geoinformatics. Terrain analysis and multicrite
ria analysis were used to identify potential reservoir
locations. SRTM data were used to provide elevation
information to determine reservoir capacity. The
required canal dimensions were estimated, and the
optimal route for the canal was proposed. Utilization
of the water in terms of irrigation and human con
sumption was also assessed.
The study showed that multitemporal and multi
sensor satellite data can be used to map the relevant
geomorphology, as well as the geology, land use and
drainage characteristics of a study area, and these can
be used as input for terrain analysis and multicriteria
analysis to identify potential reservoir sites. A combi
nation of elevation and slope data and the abovemen
tioned thematic information improves the identifica
tion procedure of the potential reservoir sites. The
method presented here could be used for preliminary
terrain analysis and multicriteria analysis in large
river basins. However, more data must be collected for
more precise identification of potential reservoir sites.
We used SRTM Version 3 data [21] as the input for
the characterization and estimation of the reservoir
capacity in an iterative propagation model. This
method has previously been used to model flood inun
dation due to dyke failure [7] and storm water surges in
urban areas [15]. SRTM data are thus useful for pre
liminary reservoir characterization and volume calcu
lation. The use of field data collected by GPS survey
ing, or other local elevation information of much
higher resolution, for example, GDEM (30 m resolu
tion) from ASTER Stereo, would provide better char
acterization of potential reservoir sites.
The optimal route of the canal linking the reser
voirs was determined by taking into account the eleva
tion, slope and the characteristics of the terrain,
including the geomorphology and land use. The canal
route proposed here was based only on the above men
NILADRI GUPTA et al.
No. of Days of Water Avalability
10% + 10%
10% + 10% 20% + 10%
300
20% + 10% 30% + 10%
30% + 10% 250 40% + 10%
40% + 10%
200
150
100
50
3 1 2 3
Scenario
tioned factors. The iterative process used indicates that
to maintain a flow of about 1 m3 s–1, the channel slope
should not exceed 2 m km–1. Detailed topographic
information is therefore required to determine slopes.
No hydrological information on the river discharge
or silting was available for the study area. River dis
charge information will enable more accurate esti
mates of the water availability in the rivers. Silting data
will be useful to calculate the reduction in reservoir
capacity over time. The latter is important as the suit
able sites are located in active flood plains.
An assessment of the utilization of the available
water for irrigation and human consumption was
made, taking into consideration losses due to evapora
tion, conveyance and reduction in reservoir capacity.
It can be concluded that this type of assessment
enables water utilization to be estimated in the differ
ent scenarios of water availability prevailing in the real
world. Information on actual water requirements in
various sectors is essential for better feasibility assess
ments of the use of water stored in reservoirs.
The information gathered and the results obtained
can be used in a preliminary costbenefit analysis, to
obtain an indication of the cost of the ILR project pro
posed by the Indian Government.
In conclusion, many issues are involved in inter
basin water transfer programmes apart form reservoir
site identification, capacity estimation, canal routing
and the possible utilization of the available water. The
research described above provides a stepping stone for
more detailed studies.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Niladri Gupta would like to express his thanks to
the European Union and the Erasmus Mundus con
sortium (University of Southampton, UK, Lund Uni
versity, Sweden, Warsaw University, Poland and ITC,
the Netherlands). This paper evolved from a disserta
tion by Niladri Gupta, who would like to express his
WATER RESOURCES Vol. 37 No. 5 2010
 USE OF GEOINFORMATICS FOR INTERBASIN WATER TRANSFER ASSESSMENT
special thanks to Mr. Sanjoy Nag, Senior Scientist,
and Dr. Parthasarathi Chakrabarti, Chief Scientist, at
the Department of Science & Technology, Govt. of
West Bengal, India for their invaluable support and
suggestions during the field work and primary database
generation.
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