Dr. S. V. Vijaya Kumar
Scientist-G & Head
National Institute of Hydrology
Deltaic Regional Centre
Siddhartha Nagar, Kakinada– 533003(Andra Pradesh), India
Ph: 0884-2372254, Fax: 0884-2350054
Email: drc[dot]nihr[at]gov[dot]in
About Regional Centre:
The Deltaic Regional Centre (DRC) of National Institute of Hydrology was established in the year 1991 in the Kakinada District of Andhra Pradesh. The jurisdiction of DRC is Coastal regions of West Bengal, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu including Andaman and Nicobar Islands. This centre undertakes R&D studies referred by various state government departments, sponsored research projects, consultancy projects and International funded projects. The centre is actively participating in various review meetings of all state water resources departments and also interacting with academic institutions like IITs, NITs, State, Central and Autonomous Universities in the region. The centre is having collaboration with VIT Vellore, NGRI, NRSC on common scientific challenges. Further, the centre is imparting training on various facets of Hydrology. The centre is equipped with water quality laboratory, hydrometeorological observatory, GIS and Remote sensing tools and other hydrological software for analyzing field problems. The centre is having highly skilled human resources in the field of hydrology.
Vision & Mission:
The vision of the centre is to address specific hydrologic problems of east coastal and deltaic regions of India in collaboration with state and central agencies. East coast of India is rich in utilisable water resources as most of the central and peninsular major rivers drain towards the Bay of Bengal through important river deltas of Ganga, Brahmaputra, Mahanadi, Godavari, Krishna and Cauvery. In coastal regions, groundwater quality problems are significant in addition to the surface water problems. The backwater through the streams and rivers, aquaculture practices, excessive pumping of groundwater are the main sources of salinization in the shallow aquifers. Poor drainage, irrigation return flows and industries are exacerbating the water resources. Accordingly, to deal with these problems, the thrust areas are identified, and these include urban hydrology, sedimentation of reservoirs, real-time flood forecasting, climate change impacts on river flows, flash floods in ungauged basins, point and non-point source groundwater contamination, saltwater intrusion modelling. The centre also organizes user-interaction workshops, brainstorming sessions, seminars for the benefit of officers working in the field of hydrology and water resources. The centre also implements the programs in the field of water resources, as directed by the Govt. of India.