Water resource projects, which form the atom of the entire management chain, are
costly and difficult to execute. The projects have to have a sound basis of planning so
as to ensure that the economic resources that are being poured in provide the intended
results. Also, being random in nature, we need to worry about the performance of the
project on a hydrological cycle basis so as to ensure that the benefits being provided
do not swing from one extreme to another but provide a stable supply regime for
sustainability of the developments depending upon the water availability.
There is lot of discussion on the economic and social justifications and desirability of a particular type of intervention, especially in the policy and advocacy
sphere where the interaction with other social sciences takes place. However, in
most of such formulations, the underlying role of observational data and the scenarios generated out of them is missed. The appreciation of adequate time-length of
observations and the diligence required for each observation is also missed. To
complicate matters, the solutions are non-unique and a generous mix of projections
can lead to multitude of conflicting interpretations of the same data. Such issues
provide a nightmarish situation at the time of adjudication and allocations.
It is, therefore, necessary that the importance of sound quality assured data and
processing methodologies resulting in rational solutions is appreciated not only by
the scientists and engineers but all the communities in general. During the course of
further discussions, we will attempt to understand this requirement and find solutions to them.
2 Data Typology Required for Water Management
Water management is a multi-disciplinary field. It requires data from all associated
fields of meteorology, hydrology, topography, geology, agronomy, regional economy, environment and habitats, land use patterns, etc. There are many other
associated specialized fields like geotechnical engineering and specialized material
and techniques which are needed to be explored for water management solutions.
Each of the areas described above are specialisations in their own right, and water
resources management touches them with various levels of depths. How various
data types play a role in various areas of water management is described below.
2.1 Precipitation
The prime source of water on land is atmospheric precipitation of all types, i.e.
rainfall and snowfall. The occurrence of precipitation is a meteorological process
affected by the topography and global circulation patterns of the atmosphere. This
being one of the basic natural process is highly complex, and discerning trends and
patterns are of utmost importance in view of primacy of the data in determining
water resources regime over a specific area. The precipitation is affected by the
Data Usage for Development, Management of Water Resources
133
costly and difficult to execute. The projects have to have a sound basis of planning so
as to ensure that the economic resources that are being poured in provide the intended
results. Also, being random in nature, we need to worry about the performance of the
project on a hydrological cycle basis so as to ensure that the benefits being provided
do not swing from one extreme to another but provide a stable supply regime for
sustainability of the developments depending upon the water availability.
There is lot of discussion on the economic and social justifications and desirability of a particular type of intervention, especially in the policy and advocacy
sphere where the interaction with other social sciences takes place. However, in
most of such formulations, the underlying role of observational data and the scenarios generated out of them is missed. The appreciation of adequate time-length of
observations and the diligence required for each observation is also missed. To
complicate matters, the solutions are non-unique and a generous mix of projections
can lead to multitude of conflicting interpretations of the same data. Such issues
provide a nightmarish situation at the time of adjudication and allocations.
It is, therefore, necessary that the importance of sound quality assured data and
processing methodologies resulting in rational solutions is appreciated not only by
the scientists and engineers but all the communities in general. During the course of
further discussions, we will attempt to understand this requirement and find solutions to them.
2 Data Typology Required for Water Management
Water management is a multi-disciplinary field. It requires data from all associated
fields of meteorology, hydrology, topography, geology, agronomy, regional economy, environment and habitats, land use patterns, etc. There are many other
associated specialized fields like geotechnical engineering and specialized material
and techniques which are needed to be explored for water management solutions.
Each of the areas described above are specialisations in their own right, and water
resources management touches them with various levels of depths. How various
data types play a role in various areas of water management is described below.
2.1 Precipitation
The prime source of water on land is atmospheric precipitation of all types, i.e.
rainfall and snowfall. The occurrence of precipitation is a meteorological process
affected by the topography and global circulation patterns of the atmosphere. This
being one of the basic natural process is highly complex, and discerning trends and
patterns are of utmost importance in view of primacy of the data in determining
water resources regime over a specific area. The precipitation is affected by the
Data Usage for Development, Management of Water Resources
133