Abstract
As of mid-2021, four hydroelectric dams are operational on the main channel of the Teesta River in the mountainous and tectonically active Sikkim-Darjeeling-Kalimpong region of India. Riparian ecological and fluvial morphological changes after damming have not been documented. This paper describes an early study of a section of the middle Teesta River, at two of the dam-created reservoirs, just before the river enters the plains. High-resolution, multi-beam, geo-located sonar was used to map the bathymetry of the reservoirs. This resulted in the creation of 30cm-resolution bathymetric maps of the two reservoirs showing valley bottom morphology within them. The bathymetric maps were compared with pre-dam digital elevation models of the valley to create topographic change-maps. The change-maps indicate significant differences in valley morphology due to erosion and deposition processes. Land cover changes due to inundation were quantified from analysis of satellite imagery time series data of the reservoir riparian zones. Land cover change analysis showed a loss of ~ 74,000 trees in ~ 225 ha of flooded riparian corridors due to long-term inundation. The study shows that the dams have caused 7.4% of the river length to become quasi-lentic, and drastically altered sediment dynamics and hydrologic flow. Sediment deposition calculations indicate the reservoirs losing almost three-quarters of their surface areas to sediment deposition features within 15 years. This study will serve as an important baseline for future studies, and influence design and policy regarding riparian and fluvial ecosystem management, monitoring, and evaluation in the Teesta and similar mountainous river basins in the Eastern Himalaya.
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Data availability
The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author, [JB], upon reasonable request.
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Acknowledgements
AJF was supported through Graduate Assistantship funds from the Graduate School and the Biology Department at the University of Louisiana, Monroe. JB acknowledges the generous support and funding from the Lillian L. and Fred A. Marx Endowed Professorship in Biology. NC was supported by endowments to the Suri Sehgal Centre for Biodiversity and Conservation and an endowment from the Barr Foundation. We thank Dr. Sarala Khaling, Director, ATREE Eastern Himalaya-NE India Regional Office, for hosting the researchers from UL Monroe and helping with getting field-work permits in restricted areas and in-field logistics during the field seasons in 2018-2019.
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JB conceived the idea and design of the project. AJF, NC, and JB carried out data collection, analyses, and interpretation of results. All authors contributed to the draft preparation, reviewed the results, and approved the final version of the manuscript.
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Fields, A.J., Bhattacharjee, J. & Chatterjee, N. Reservoir bathymetry and riparian corridor assessment in two dammed sections of the Teesta River in Eastern Himalaya. Environ Monit Assess 193, 640 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-021-09433-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-021-09433-z