Abstract ID: 3.11703 | Withdrawn | Poster | TBA | TBA

Water scarcity results in a significant number of fatalities annually, and the graph depicting these casualties is increasingly rising alongside the growing demand for freshwater. This escalating water consumption has prompted various countries to seek a more thorough evaluation of the environmental, economic, social, and geopolitical impacts of water resources. In this context, watersheds are viewed as the most suitable areal units for assessing and planning water resources. Likewise, analyzing the hydrology of a basin or region is best achieved through the estimation of water balance/budget. In this study, the classical water-budget equation was employed to analyze the hydrologic response and water budget within the upper and lower Beas River basin during the study period, against the background of warming temperatures and changing precipitation patterns. Records of the inflow and outflow at Pong Reservoir and Harike Wetland were collected for a period of 30 years, from 1991 to 2020, from the Bhakhra Beas Management Board and the Punjab Water Resource Department, Chandigarh. Rainfall information was sourced from daily gridded rainfall data available on the NASA Power website. Pong Reservoir and Harike Wetland, the two largest water bodies in the Beas River basin, are designated as Ramsar sites. It was observed that the water balance in the Upper Beas River Basin consistently remains positive throughout the year, while the Lower Beas River Basin shows a positive water balance, especially during the months of July and August each year. Rainfall during the monsoon season is the primary factor influencing river runoff and surface water availability in the region under study.