IDENTIFICATION OF SUITABLE DAM SITE: A SURVEY

Water management has become one of the major concerns in many countries. Researchers have proposed different criteria and methodologies for identification of suitable dam sites. Based on our literature review, we have identified three major methodologies for selection of suitable dam site location: Geographic Information System and Remote Sensing (GIS/RS), Hydrological Modelling with GIS/RS and Multi-criteria Analysis (MCA) integrated with HM and GIS/RS. Advantages and disadvantages of each of the methodologies are also mentioned. These methods consider different criteria ranging from those based on only biophysical characteristics to more integrated criteria including socio-economic criteria. Most common criteria used for the selection of suitable dam site were slope, rainfall, land cover, soil type and distance to settlement/road/stream. When more relevant criteria were considered, the suitability site selection tended to be more reliable and accurate. Hence MCA plays an important role.