Water Management Field Laboratory, at Shiv Nadar Institution of Eminence, focuses on the investigation of different aspects and issues related to water and its availability such as flood & drought management, dam safety, inland navigation, riverbank protection, and food & water security. These research areas have been marked as of national importance by Ministry of Jal Shakti and Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers' Welfare, Govt. of India. Understanding the importance of the United Nations SDGs, the laboratory focuses on the SDG goals: SDG 2 (End Hunger, Achieve Food Security and Promote Sustainable Agriculture, SDG 6 (Ensure Availability and Sustainable Management of Water and Sanitation for All, SDG 13 (Take Urgent Action to Combat Climate Change and its Impacts).
Due to climate change effects and population rise, the water demand for various uses is increasingly falling short of available water resources. In years to come, climate change is projected to result in further adverse effects on overall water availability for agriculture, drinking water and industrial water supply. Also, the frequency and intensity of floods in river basins and urban landscapes are expected to increase due to increase in intensity and erratic nature of precipitation. Therefore, there is a pressing need to address the critical issues related to water and water availability and come up with innovative solutions to fill the knowledge gaps with respect to the present and near future in the area of agricultural water management and river hydraulics, which may otherwise pose major constraints to sound and sustainable water resources management. To address these critical issues in water management, food & water security nexus and impacts of climate change on water availability, Water Management Field Laboratory was established in April 2021, in the Department of Civil Engineering. The laboratory is primarily working in two broad areas: a. Agricultural water management, b. River hydraulics
a. AGRICULTURAL WATER MANAGEMENT FIELD LABORATORY
Agricultural water accounts for more than 85 % of the total fresh water usage in India and more than 70% globally. Considering the present status of stressed fresh water resources, which will only exacerbate in the near future, proper planning and management of the agricultural water is being felt like never before. In this context, the vision of the lab is:
- Improving water use efficiency in agriculture
- Develop tools for water-efficient scheduling of irrigation
- Accurate estimation and mapping of spatial agricultural water demand
- Prediction of agricultural water demand for future scenario of climate change
Domain knowledge is being combined with the emerging technologies of remote sensing, IoT, and data mining tools. The main objective of the research is to come up with solutions that can be implemented for reducing the effects of the water crisis on Indian agriculture. The laboratory possesses extensive agricultural crop experimentation facility that equipped with drip irrigation system and extensive research equipment facility for the monitoring of crop and soil parameters.
Laboratory Resources and Infrastructure
Infrastructure
Agricultural water management field laboratory has been developed at Shiv Nadar Institution of Eminence, Delhi-NCR that includes an extensive research facility for experimentation on agricultural water management.
