India to raise flood forecast spending five-fold

NEW DELHI // India plans to increase spending on flood forecasting and river management five-fold to 33.69 billion rupees (Dh2bn) over the next five years.

"We are revisiting our assessment of water resources and basin-wise data across the nation," Rajesh Kumar, chairman of the Central Water Commission, said in an interview in New Delhi. "Competing demands for water and climate-change concerns are the triggers that are pushing us to improve our systems."

The Central Water Commission, which collects India's water data and advises federal and state governments on dam, irrigation and hydro projects, is investing in satellite-linked sensors to improve flood forecasting, Mr Kumar said.

The agency will more than double the current 445 stations that use sensors to monitor river basins and coastal areas, he said.

The commission was criticised for poor forecasting after rains last month caused flash floods and landslides in the northern Indian state of Uttarakhand that borders China, killing at least 1,000 people. About 10,000 more were stranded.

"Climate-change monitoring in the Himalayan areas and in the north-eastern states will be our priority," Mr Kumar said. The agency has sought increased budgets to reassess water levels across 20 major river basins in India, he said.

He said the country, which accounts for 4 per cent of the world's water resources and 18 per cent of its population, needs to update its two-decades-old hydrological data. Climate change and increasing demand from people and industries is expected to cut water availability by 28 per cent in 2050 from 1,704 cubic metres in 2010, India's farm ministry said.

India spent 6.45 billion rupees on flood forecasting in the five years up to April 2012, and plans to spend 33.69 billion rupees in the next five years that end in 2017.