Vulnerability assessment of the status of Himalayan springs in the headwaters of Beas basin in Kullu valley Himachal Pradesh India

Abstract

The socioeconomic dependence of people of Hilly regions on springs is an undisputed fact. These springs have been under tremendous stress due to changing climatic conditions, increased human inventions and unbalanced ecological factors. An integrated approach involving hydro geochemical, environmental isotopic and GIS/RS techniques was adopted in this thesis to study the quality, quantity, socioeconomic dependence and climate change impacts on springs in Upper Beas Basin of Kullu valley, Himachal Pradesh, India. The chemical data suggests that the quality of spring and groundwater is suitable for drinking and irrigation purposes. The main geochemical reactions occurring in subsurface were found to be water rock interaction, dissolution of salts and ion exchange. The evaporation effects were found to be negligible. Inferences from isotopic study conclude that the spring discharges are a mixture of rainfall derived from Indian summer monsoon, western disturbances and snow/glacier melts. In order to improve the spring discharges it is essential to identify the recharge altitude and plan artificial recharge measures. Isotopic effect has been employed to determine the potential recharge altitudes of the springs, which are found to be 2000 and 3500 m amsl. Integrating the vulnerability index with the above inferences, it can be concluded that both congenital means of water harvesting as well as improvised artificial rainwater harvesting through intervention of isotope techniques certainly improve the overall spring health as well as their sustainability. newline