Identifying the Potential Dam Sites to Avert the Risk of Catastrophic Floods in the Jhelum Basin, Kashmir, NW Himalaya, India

In Remote Sensing
Peer-reviewed Article
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In September 2014, Kashmir witnessed a catastrophic flood resulting in a significant loss
of lives and property. Such massive losses could have been avoided if any structural support such
as dams were constructed in the Jhelum basin, which has a history of devastating floods. The GIS based
multicriteria analysis (MCA) model provided three suitability zones for dam locations. The
final suitable dam sites were identified within the highest suitability zone based on topography
(cross-sections), stream order, high suitable zone, minimum dam site interval, distance from roads,
and protected area distance to the dam site. It was discovered that 10.98% of the total 4347.74 km2
area evaluated falls in the high suitability zone, 28.88% of the area falls in the medium suitability
zone, and 60.14% of the area falls in the low suitability zone. Within the study area, four viable
reservoir sites with a holding capacity of 4,489,367.55 m3 were revealed.

Author:
Muzamil Ahmad
Rather
Gowhar
Meraj
Majid
Farooq
Bashir Ahmad
Shiekh
Shruti
Kanga
Suraj Kumar
Singh
Netrananda
Sahu
Surya Prakash
Tiwari
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