Faculty Publications

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Author: search.filters.author.Mahesha, A.Subject: search.filters.subject.India

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    Simulation of varada aquifer system for sustainable groundwater development
    (2008) Ramesh, H.; Mahesha, A.
    Groundwater flow modeling has been used extensively worldwide with varying degrees of success. The ability to predict the groundwater flow is critical in planning and implementing groundwater development projects under increasing demand for fresh water resources. This paper presents the simulation of the aquifer system for planning the groundwater development of Varada basin, Karnataka, India using the Galerkin finite-element method. The government of Karnataka State, India is implementing the World Bank assisted project, "Jal Nirmal" for a sustainable development of the region, thereby ensuring a safe supply of drinking water to the northern districts of the state. Varada basin is one of the beneficiaries of the project in Haveri district. Field tests carried out in the study area indicate that the region is predominantly a confined aquifer with transmissivity and storage coefficients ranging from 5.787×10-6m2/s (0.500 m2/day) to 4.213×10-3m2/s (3.640×102m2/day) and 0.011-0.001× 10-2, respectively. This study mainly emphasizes the spatial and temporal variability of groundwater potential under different developmental scenarios. The model predictions were reasonably good with correlation coefficients ranging from 0.78 to 0.91 with the root mean square error of about 0.46-0.78 during calibration and validation. The stated accuracies are based on comparisons between measured and calculated heads. The outcome of the study would be a useful input for the conjunctive use of surface water and groundwater planning for the sustainable development of the region. © 2008 ASCE.
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    Tropical, Seasonal River Basin Development: Hydrogeological Analysis
    (2011) Shetkar, R.V.; Mahesha, A.
    This study presents a hydrogeological analysis of a humid tropical, seasonal river in the context of climate change, increasing demand for water, and uneven distribution of rainfall. We investigate the Netravathi basin, a tropical river basin of south India. The climate change effect on the basin was evident in terms of increasing trend in temperature by about 0.7°C/100 years and decreasing trend in the river flow during the monsoon by about 0.8% of average annual flow per year using the Mann-Kendall trend test. Even though rainfall was found to be decreasing, no significant trend could be established. From the trend analysis of the river flow, it was found that there is an overall declining trend with longer scarcity periods. In addition, the trends of magnitude and frequency of high flows are declining. Even though the region receives an average annual rainfall of about 3,930 mm, it has nonuniform distribution with most of the rainfall confining to a few months of a year. In view of this, the region suffers from a prolonged dry period during February to May. The projected domestic water demand of the region for the next 25 years is estimated to be increasing from the present 0.09 mm3 to 0.25 mm3 per day because of rapid urbanization and industrialization. The purpose of this investigation is to highlight the effects of climate change and uneven distribution of rainfall in the river basin. This may assist in proper planning of the basin through strategies such as river water harvesting, which is investigated in the companion paper. Because the Netravathi River is a seasonal and tidal river, and saltwater intrusion along the river during the summer months is affecting the development of the basin. It was found that the river water is affected up to distance of about 22,000 m from the Arabian sea and the wells on the banks of the river are found to be highly vulnerable to saltwater intrusion during the summer period (March to May). © 2011 American Society of Civil Engineers.
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    Tropical, Seasonal River Basin Development through a Series of Vented Dams
    (2011) Shetkar, R.V.; Mahesha, A.
    Tropical rivers are predominantly seasonal in nature, and managing water resources during the deficit period is becoming more difficult because of the rapidly increasing demand for water. The present investigation focuses on harvesting Netravathi River water in the southern Indian peninsula through a series of vented dams with an estimated storage capacity of 102 Mm3 for use during the deficit period. A brief hydraulic design of a vented dam at a specific location is presented. The spacing and capacity of these reservoirs were worked out on the basis of the dam height and the river characteristics. The proposed vented dams are seasonal dams, and the closure of the vents will be decided on the flow available (i.e., 95% dependable flow), the storage capacity, and the minimum water release required for the downstream ecosystem. The appropriate time to start storing water in the vented dams was estimated to be in the month of November, and the entire process of storing water in the vented dams may last for about 41 days. An operational protocol for the storing process is presented. The investigations of aquifer parameters were performed by using electrical resistivity, pumping, and soil tests. The results indicated that the aquifer is shallow, unconfined in nature, and had a depth ranging from 18 to 30 m and hydraulic conductivity ranging from 62.6 to 406 m/day. A multiple regression model developed to assess the groundwater recharge in the adjoining well fields indicated that water table fluctuations may be 30% of reservoir level fluctuations. Because the river is also tidal in nature, a saltwater exclusion dam is proposed at the lower reaches of the river to prevent the entry of saltwater along the river during the summer period. © 2011 American Society of Civil Engineers.
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    Terrain analysis and hydrogeochemical environment of aquifers of the southern west coast of Karnataka, India
    (2012) Honnanagoudar, S.S.; Venkat Reddy, D.; Mahesha, A.
    Dakshina kannada district is situated in peninsular region. The peninsula is composed of geologically ancient rocks of diverse original and most of them have undergone metamorphism. The early Precambrian tonalitic gneisses invaded by granites, granulites and dolerite dykes. Granulites are mostly restricted to areas south of Mangalore. High grade alumina rich (corundum bearing) metamorphic schists have been encountered and younger alkaline intrusive rocks like Aegerine syenites have been reported. There are five rivers and estuaries. Number of lineaments cut across each other and some lineaments are parallel to each other. The Arabian sea class is the largest among other land cover features in the study area. The river/tidal creek land cover appear as long irregular and sinous in outline. Mulki river, Netravati river, Gurupur river at southern terrain. The qualities of groundwater at sandy aquifer are good, lateritic/weathered gneissic rocks it is sweet. © 2012 CAFET-INNOVA TECHNICAL SOCIETY.
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    Parameter estimation and vulnerability assessment of coastal unconfined aquifer to saltwater intrusion
    (2012) Mahesha, A.; Vyshali; Lathashri, U.A.; Ramesh, H.
    The focus of the present work is to characterize a tropical, coastal aquifer and to carry out its vulnerability to saltwater intrusion using hydrogeological parameters. The characterization of the aquifer involves pumping tests, vertical electrical sounding, and water quality analysis carried out at 41 monitoring wells. The area under investigation lies between two tropical, seasonal, tidal rivers, i.e., Pavanje and Gurpur rivers, joining the Arabian on the west coast of India. The aquifer is predominantly shallow and unconfined, having moderate to good groundwater potential with transimissivity and specific yield ranging from 49.2 to 461:4 m2/day and 0.00058 to 0.2805, respectively. The electrical resistivity tests indicated that the thickness of the aquifer ranges from 18 to 30 m. The study also investigates the saltwater affected areas in the region the vertical electrical sounding and water quality analysis. The resistivity results revealed several probable isolated saltwater intruded pockets in the region with resistivity less than 70 Om. From the salinity analysis of water, the locations that are affected during February to May (summer) and throughout the year are identified. The wells that are located close to the coast (< 350 m) and at lower elevations (well bottom < +1 m) were found to be saline throughout the year. Also, wells along the banks of the river show considerable salinity (> 200 ppm) during the summer period from tidal inflow along the rivers. The water samples were also analyzed for chloride to bicarbonate ratios during December to May at all the monitoring wells and were found to be exceeding the allowable limit at several locations. The saltwater vulnerability maps are derived for the area by the index-based method using the hydrogeological parameters. The method was found to be effective while compared to the field observations. The results from the analysis indicate that the aquifer is medium to highly vulnerable to saltwater intrusion at majority of the locations. The impact of projected sea level rise by 0.25 and 0.50 m from the climate change is also assessed on the vulnerability of the region to saltwater intrusion. © 2012 American Society of Civil Engineers.
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    Predictive Simulation of Seawater Intrusion in a Tropical Coastal Aquifer
    (American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) onlinejls@asce.org, 2016) Lathashri, U.A.; Mahesha, A.
    The solute transport in a tropical, coastal aquifer of southern India is numerically simulated considering the possible cases of aquifer recharge, freshwater draft, and seawater intrusion using numerical modeling software. The aquifer considered for the study is a shallow, unconfined aquifer with lateritic formations having good monsoon rains up to about 3,000 mm during June to September and the rest of the months almost dry. The model is calibrated for a two-year period and validated against the available dataset, which gave satisfactory results. The groundwater flow pattern during the calibration period shows that for the month of May a depleted water table and during the monsoon month of August a saturated water table was predicted. The sensitivity analysis of model parameters reveals that the hydraulic conductivity and recharge rate are the most sensitive parameters. Based on seasonal investigation, the seawater intrusion is found to be more sensitive to pumping and recharge rates compared to the aquifer properties. The water balance study confirms that river seepage and rainfall recharge are the major input to the aquifer. The model is used to forecast the landward movement of seawater intrusion because of the anticipated increase in freshwater draft scenarios in combination with the decreased recharge rate over a longer period. The results of the predictive simulations indicate that seawater intrusion may still confine up to a distance of approximately 450-940 m landward for the scenarios considered and thus are sustainable. © 2015 American Society of Civil Engineers.
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    Impacts of climate change on varied River-Flow regimes of southern india
    (American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) onlinejls@asce.org, 2017) Mudbhatkal, A.; Raikar, R.V.; Venkatesh, B.; Mahesha, A.
    This paper assesses the possible impact of climate change on the hydrology of the subhumid and perhumid river regimes originating from the western mountain range (Western Ghats) of India. The modified Mann-Kendall test evaluates the trend of observed data (1975-2004) and RCP 4.5 data (2006-2070) of climatic variables. The results indicate a decreasing trend for annual rainfall over the Malaprabha River catchment (26 mm per year at the 5% significance level), whereas no trend is observed over the Netravathi River catchment at the 10% level. Indian southwestern monsoon rainfall shows a decreasing trend from 84 to 80% of total rainfall in the Malaprabha River catchment and from 80 to 77% in the Netravathi River catchment. Summer rains are found to be increasing in the Malaprabha River catchment (3-4.5% of total rainfall), whereas there is no significant trend for the Netravathi River catchment. Furthermore, the postmonsoon rainfall also shows a significant increase in the Malaprabha catchment (40 mm per decade at the 5% significance level) and the Netravathi catchment (30 mm per decade at the 10% significance level). The Netravathi River shows a decreasing trend for annual flow (0.22 Mm3 per year at the 10% significance level). However, for both catchments the temperature is found to be increasing by 0.2-0.8°C per decade. The soil and water assessment tool (SWAT) model is used to simulate the river catchments and exhibits a Nash-Sutcliffe efficiency of 0.831 and 0.857 for the Malaprabha and Netravathi River catchments, respectively. In addition, a decreasing trend in the high flow is estimated for Netravathi, whereas the trend is increasing for Malaprabha. Thus the impacts of climate change over the Western Ghats are very evident, but the flow of each river responds differently. © 2017 American Society of Civil Engineers.
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    Bivariate Drought Characterization of Two Contrasting Climatic Regions in India Using Copula
    (American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), 2021) Sajeev, A.; Deb Barma, S.; Mahesha, A.; Shiau, J.-T.
    This study aims to construct the multiple time-scale joint distributions of drought duration and severity using two-dimensional copulas and compare the drought characteristics in India's two contrasting climate regions: the arid Rajasthan and humid, tropical Kerala. The drought occurrences were defined by the standardized precipitation index (SPI) with a threshold below -0.8 at time scales of 3, 6, 12, and 24 months for 1900-2016. Significant correlations were noted between the drought severity and drought duration in both regions. The Clayton copula gave a better fit than other copulas for modeling the dependence among the observed drought duration and severity. The results indicate that the probability of short-term droughts (SPI-3 and SPI-6) is more significant than those of long-term droughts (SPI-12 and SPI-24) for an identical drought event in both regions. Also, the probability of severe drought events with greater duration and severity for long-term droughts (SPI-12 and SPI-24) is higher in Kerala than that in western Rajasthan. For all the time-scale SPIs, the conditional probability of drought severity for a given duration exceeding a threshold showed an increasing trend in both regions. Furthermore, the conditional probability of the drought duration given the severity for short-term droughts is greater than that of the long-term droughts for the same drought event. For short-term droughts, the conditional return period of an identical drought event is lower in Kerala than in western Rajasthan. In contrast, the conditional return period of long-term droughts is lower in western Rajasthan. Additionally, copula-based nonexceedance conditional distributions for the major crops were established based on rainfall. © 2020 American Society of Civil Engineers.
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    Long-Term Climate Variability and Drought Characteristics in Tropical Region of India
    (American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), 2021) Vijay, A.; Sivan, S.D.; Mudbhatkal, A.; Mahesha, A.
    This work reports climate change signals and long-Term trend analysis of climate variables, meteorological drought, and extreme climate indexes over the tropical state of Kerala in India. The trend analysis reveals statistically significant decrease of annual and southwest monsoon rainfall (as much as 63 mm and 55 mm per decade, respectively). A decrease in number of annual rainy days (up to 2.8 days/decade) is also reported. Temperature trend analysis indicates an increasing trend with as high as 1.3°C/decade. The spatio-Temporal variation of extreme climate indexes across Kerala shows a decreasing trend of extreme precipitation indexes and an increasing trend of extreme temperature indexes. R95 and R95p decreased in northern and southern Kerala whereas R5 index increased in central and southern regions. Warm days have significantly increased whereas cold days exhibit a decreasing trend across the state. The increase in warmer nights is statistically significant whereas colder nights are decreasing in central and southern regions. Meteorological drought using Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) reveals increasing occurrence of droughts in Kerala with higher frequencies over southern and central Kerala. © 2021 American Society of Civil Engineers.
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    Copula-Based Frequency and Coincidence Risk Analysis of Floods in Tropical-Seasonal Rivers
    (American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), 2021) Muthuvel, D.; Mahesha, A.
    The conventional method of univariate flood frequency analysis based solely on peak flow (Q) overlooks the influence of other characteristic flood variables, such as the accumulated volume (V) of the flood and the duration (D) of flood events. A copula-based multivariate model that represents the joint behavior of these dependent flood variables could aid in computing joint return periods of flood events in tropical, seasonal rivers of India. In connection with the potential locations of high flood risk among west-flowing rivers, multivariate flood frequency analysis was performed on the Bharatapuzha, Periyar, and Chaliyar Rivers of the state of Kerala, India. A comparison of univariate return periods with multivariate return periods reveals that the intersection of flood variables corresponding to a 20-year univariate return period yields a trivariate return period of 91 years at Bharatapuzha and 144 years at Periyar and Chaliyar. The return period by the union of such flood variables is 10 years. The choice of flood variables and their combination depend on the problem at hand. Additionally, basinwise confluence flood frequency models are built with the peak flow at each stream as the random variables show their spatial interdependencies using conditional probabilities and return periods. The copula-based flood coincidence risk model captures the temporal aspect of the co-occurrence of flood peaks in a basin's streams. The co-occurrence of annual flood peaks between the stream pairs of the Bharatapuzha, Periyar, and Muvathapuzha basins is the highest toward the end of July with probabilities of approximately 2.2×10-4 (at the Kumbidi and Mankara stations), 3×10-4, and 1×10-3, respectively. A trio of copula-based multivariate flood frequency, confluence flood frequency, and flood coincidence risk models could be used to design safe and economic hydrologic infrastructure. © 2021 American Society of Civil Engineers.