Abstract
The Amba River flows through Raigad district in Maharashtra, passing through Nagothane — an established industrial corridor that hosts major petrochemical and ONGC installations. Industrial expansion along river corridors in India requires rigorous hydrological assessment as part of environmental clearance processes under the Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) notification framework. Third-party hydrological assessments are mandated to ensure that industrial water abstraction, effluent discharge, and development footprints do not compromise downstream water availability or increase flood risk.
Prof. Afzal was engaged as an independent third-party consultant by Dornier Group (India) Pvt. Ltd. for the hydrology study of the Amba River project at Nagothane. The assessment covered the characterisation of river flow regimes, including seasonal variability, monsoon peak flows, and lean-season base flows critical for water availability planning.
The scope of such assessments typically encompasses flood frequency analysis using statistical methods (Log-Pearson Type III, Gumbel extreme value distributions), estimation of design floods for various return periods, low-flow analysis for environmental flow requirements, and rainfall-runoff modelling to establish catchment response characteristics. Hydrological modelling tools such as HEC-HMS for catchment-scale rainfall-runoff simulation and HEC-RAS for hydraulic analysis of river reaches are standard components of the methodology — both tools are part of Prof. Afzal's documented computational toolkit.
The role of an independent third-party consultant is distinct from that of the project proponent: the consultant provides an unbiased technical assessment that regulatory agencies can rely upon for clearance decisions. The deliverable was a comprehensive technical hydrological report submitted to Dornier Group.
Key Findings
- Independent hydrological assessment covering flood frequency analysis, low-flow conditions, and environmental flow requirements.
- Catchment-scale analysis supporting industrial water use planning and environmental clearance processes.
- Methodology aligned with EIA notification framework requirements for river corridor development.
Methodological Approach
Hydrological modelling, statistical flood frequency analysis (Log-Pearson Type III, Gumbel), rainfall-runoff modelling using tools such as HEC-HMS and HEC-RAS, and environmental flow estimation.
Implications for Hydraulic Practice
Provides regulatory-grade hydrological data supporting Dornier Group's environmental clearance applications and industrial water resource planning at Nagothane.
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