The Union Cabinet has given its approval to, a central sector scheme, implementation of the National Hydrology Project.   It also provides for establishment of National Water Informatics Centre (NWIC) as an independent organization under the control of Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation (MoWR, RD&GR). The NHP will help in gathering Hydro-meteorological data which will be stored and analysed on a real time basis and can be seamlessly accessed by any user at the State/District/village level.  The project envisages to cover the entire country as the earlier hydrology projects covered only 13 States.

The project has been central to efforts in India to improve the planning, development, and management of water resources, as well as flood forecasting and reservoir operations in real-time. It will facilitate integrated water resource management by adopting river basin approach through collation and management of hydro-meteorological data.  This will also help in water resource assessment – as surface as well as ground water, for water resource planning, prioritize its allocations and its consumptive use for irrigation; in providing real time information on a dynamic basis to the farmers about the ground water position for them to accordingly plan their cropping pattern; help in promoting efficient and equitable use of water particularly of ground water at the village level; also provide information on quality of water.

The NHP will result in the improvement of:

1.     Data storage, exchange, analysis and dissemination through National Water Informatics Centre.

2.     Lead time in flood forecast from 1 day to at least 3 days

3.     Mapping of flood inundation areas for use by the disaster management authorities

4.     Assessment of surface and ground water resources in a river basin for better planning & allocation for PMKSY and other schemes of Govt. of India

5.     Reservoir operations through   seasonal yield   forecast,   drought management, SCADA systems, etc.

6.     Design of SW & GW structures, hydropower units, interlinking of rivers, Smart Cities.

7.    Fulfilling the objectives of Digital India.

8.     People Centric approach:  The programme envisages ultimate aim for water management through scientific data collection, dissemination of information on water availability in all blocks of the country.  The automated system for Flood Forecasting is aimed to reduce water disaster ultimately helping vulnerable population.  It is people and farmer centric programme as information on water can help in predicting water availability and help farmers to plan their crops and other farm related activities.  Through this programme India would make a place among nations known for scientific endeavours.

                                    Hydrometeorology is the science that studies the cycle of water. It is intimately related to the meteorology, hydrology and climatology sciences. The hydrometeorology studies the processes of the hydrological cycle that occur in the atmosphere (evaporation, condensation and precipitation) and in the ground (rainfall interception, infiltration and surface runoff) and their interactions. The hydrometeorology science studies the behaviour of hydrologic elements, such as rivers, ponds and dams.