An integrated water assessment model for supporting India water policy

A Basin-wide Holistic Integrated Water Assessment (BHIWA) model was developed by the International Commission on Irrigation and Drainage (ICID) under the Country Policy Support Programme (CPSP) to study and integrate impacts of water for "food", "people" and "nature" sectors on water availability and derive policies supporting sustainable development. The model was applied to two typical river basins in India. The model provides for past, present and future conditions a sound and much broader "knowledge base" to understand the state of water availability under alternative scenarios by different use sectors at the basin/sub-basin level. The scenario-based approach has allowed the testing of various plausible policy options for managing water and related land resources and to suggest suitable modifications in India's National Water Policy. Copyright (c) 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.