Guwahati: The Brahmaputra river basin, which provides water to the most densely populated areas of Assam and Bangladesh, will see an increase in river ‘runoff’ by 2050.
According to projections by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in its 6th Assessment Report on Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability, released February 28, there will be substantial increase in river run off by 2050.
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River run-off refers to water that comes into a river water system from sources such as rainfall, melting snow and groundwater.
The run-off in Brahmaputra will increase by 3-8 percent, the IPCC report claimed.
The increase in run-off in the upper Brahmaputra would be due to a rise in precipitation, the report said.
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“The future hydrological extremes of the Upper Indus, Ganges and Brahmaputra river basins suggest an increase in the magnitude of extremes towards the end of the 21st century by applying RCP4.5 and 8.5 scenarios, mainly due to increase in precipitation extremes,” the report added.
The run-off in the Brahmaputra is projected to increase by 16 per cent under the climate change scenarios by the end of the century.
The changes in run-off in these scenarios are larger in the wet seasons than the dry season.
The Ganga-Brahmaputra region also faces the threat of increased frequency of flood events.