Climate Change Impacts on Streamflow in the Krishna River Basin, India: Uncertainty and Multi-Site Analysis

In Peninsular India, the Krishna River basin is the second largest river basin that is overutilized and more vulnerable to climate change. The main aim of this study is to determine the future projection of monthly streamflows in the Krishna River basin for Historic (1980–2004) and Future (2020–2044, 2045–2069, 2070–2094) climate scenarios (RCP 4.5 and 8.5, respectively), with the help of the Soil Water and Assessment Tool (SWAT). SWAT model parameters are optimized using SWAT-CUP during calibration (1975 to 1990) and validation (1991–2003) periods using observed discharge data at 5 gauging stations. The Cordinated Regional Downscaling EXperiment (CORDEX) provides the future projections for meteorological variables with different high-resolution Global Climate Models (GCM). Reliability Ensemble Averaging (REA) is used to analyze the uncertainty of meteorological variables associated within the multiple GCMs for simulating streamflow. REA-projected climate parameters are validated with IMD-simulated data. The results indicate that REA performs well throughout the basin, with the exception of the area near the Krishna River’s headwaters. For the RCP 4.5 scenario, the simulated monsoon streamflow values at Mantralayam gauge station are 716.3 m3/s per month for the historic period (1980–2004), 615.6 m3/s per month for the future1 period (2020–2044), 658.4 m3/s per month for the future2 period (2045–2069), and 748.9 m3/s per month for the future3 period (2070–2094). Under the RCP 4.5 scenario, lower values of about 50% are simulated during the winter. Future streamflow projections at Mantralayam and Pondhugala gauge stations are lower by 30 to 50% when compared to historic streamflow under RCP 4.5. When compared to the other two future periods, trends in streamflow throughout the basin show a decreasing trend in the first future period. Water managers in developing water management can use the recommendations made in this study as preliminary information and adaptation practices for the Krishna River basin.