LITERATURE REVIEW
2. Hydrology
Hydrology is the scientific study of the movement, distribution, and quality of water on Earth
and other planets, including the water cycle, water resources and environmental watershed
sustainability. Hydrological analysis have been carried out for Sunkoshi River catchment in
order to evaluate the water availability, design discharge for the project and for planning,
designing, renovating, modernizing and upgrading of hydraulic structures.
2.2.1 Catchments
The catchment area at the intake site of Sunkoshi Hydropower Project is about 1633.7 km2. Out
of this area about ----km2 area lies above the 3000m elevation and about ----km2 area lies above
the 5000m elevation line. The detail of the catchment area is shown in figure below.
PHOTO
PHOTO
2.2.2 Rainfall
Like other parts of Nepal, the region is also influenced by monsoon climate. The region receives 70
to 80 percent of annual precipitation during the four monsoon months June to September. Rainfall
intensity varies in the catchment with elevation. In general, the amount of precipitation is highest in
the south at the lower elevations and gradually decreases to the north with increase in elevation. April
is the driest month with relative humidity 65% and the wettest month is July, which has 85% of
relative humidity.
From annual average precipitation map of Nepal, the annual precipitation for the catchment under
consideration is estimated to be in the range of 2500-3000 mm.Rainfall intensity is experienced as
intense at the upper catchment and almost every day there is rainfall on the monsoon season. Like
most of the region of Nepal the monsoon rainfall amounts approximately to 75% of the total annual
precipitation and from the monsoon wetness index map of Nepal the monsoon wetness index of the
catchment under consideration is taken as 1200* mm.
Catchment area of Sunkoshi Hydropower project at the intake site = 1633.7 Sq. km
Thus the long term flow data (m3/sec) at Dolalghat station is as follows:
Table 1: Long Term Mean Monthly flow of Sunkoshi River at Dolaghat:
Table 2: Long Term Mean Monthly flow of Sunkoshi Hydropower Headworks derived from
Station No.625 at Dolalghat:
2.3.2 WECS/ DHM Method
(Water and energy commission secretariat/department of hydrology and meteorology)
This method was developed by WECS/DHM in 1990 for evaluating the hydrologic
characteristics of ungauged catchment. This method is only applicable for catchment area
>100km2.This method assumes the entire country as a single entity. It estimates low flow, flood
flow and long-term average flow. For the complete hydrological analysis by this approach, the
catchments area and its distribution in altitude are essential along with the monsoon index of
catchment. This method consists of the regression equation for estimating the long term average
monthly flow, the equation is as follows:
Q (mean month) = C x (Area of the basin) A1x (Area below 5000m+1) A2 x (monsoon wetness
index) A3.
The basin characteristics like area of the basin, area below 5000m and monsoon wetness index
remains same, whereas the coefficients C, A1 and A2 are different for each month resulting
unique equations for estimating the flow.
Thus, the long term flow (in m3/sec) for each month generated by WECS/DHM method is as
follows:
Since the WECS/DHM method is only applicable to ungauged type of river and there are few
gauge stations in the nearby basins, so the WECS/DHM method is discarded.
The Sunkoshi River at Dolalghat has a gauge station with the data of 11 years form 1980
obtained from Department of Hydrology and Meteorology (DHM) . Hydrology data after 1995
was not recorded due to fault in the station. Since the gauge station at Dolalghat lies in the
vicinity of the intake site of Sunkoshi Hydropower Project, it has been adopted for design
consideration of hydraulic and civil structures.
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Flow, m3/s
20.28 17.66 16.29 19.78 30.59 87.08 218.23 248.47 185.24 100.84 62.23 47.54
Annual Hydrograph
Discharge from CAR method (m3/s) Discharge from WECS/DHM (m3/s)
300
Discharge( m3/s)
250
200
150
100
50
0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Month
Probability of
exceedence Discharge (m3/s)
297.46
5%
256.03
10%
220.36
15%
189.67
20%
163.25
25%
140.51
30%
120.94
35%
104.09
40%
89.59
45%
77.11
50%
66.37
55%
57.13
60%
49.17
65%
42.32
70%
36.43
75%
31.35
80%
26.99
85%
23.23
90%
19.99
95%
Flow Duration Curve
y = 345.67e-0.033x
300
250
Discharge (m3/s)
200
150
100
50
0
0 20 40 60 80 100 120
Percentage of time
The design discharge of Sunkoshi Hydropower Project is 39. ****m3/s at present for the
operation of rotating 3 turbines of ------ capacity. We intend to increase one turbine at the
powerhouse with design discharge 54 m3/s thus increasing electric output to 13.4 MW from 10.1
MW.