Assessment of Temporal Flow Variations Due to Dam Operation– A Case Study of Bargi Dam, Jabalpur District, India

The case study dam project, Bargi Dam, situated in Madhya Pradesh, India, is among the initial major dams, that have already been constructed as part of a proposed series of thirty dams along the Narmada River. This dam was operational since the year 1988. The temporal fluctuations in the flow were assessed by applying the Range of Variability Approach (RVA) using the Indicators of Hydrologic Alteration (IHA) software. When assessing the impact of the dam on the flow regime, duration of 13 years for both the ante- and post-impact periods have been considered. The Range of Variability method has utilized a set of 33 parameters to measure the hydrologic alteration occurred due to the dam operation. The optimal values for these parameters can be achieved by adjusting the dam's discharges and assessing the resulting impacts on the downstream environment. Through this method, temporary environmental flow requirements (EFRs) may be arrived at for a given project site.