Integrating Transdisciplinary Social-hydrology and Value Addition for Sustainable Spring-fed Water Management in the Anthropocene: Insights from the Central Himalaya

Freshwater resources in the Himalayan region are increasingly under stress from recent climatic perturbations, land-use transformation, population migration, and raising concerns about the sustainability of mountain hydro-social systems. This study examines socio-hydrological changes in the spring-fed Khulgad watershed of Uttarakhand, India, using household surveys, focus group discussions, land-use and land-cover (LULC) analysis, and hydrological observations collected over the past three decades. Results show that women manage more than 90% of ecosystem-related work, yet their contribution to socio-economic development is often undervalued. Lack of safe drinking water is a driver of migration (31.2% overall, 58.1% in Group 4 (barren LULC)), exasperated by high water crisis perceptions (84%) and long water fetching durations (53% exceed one hour). In Group 4, severe water stress (55.8% spend over two hours fetching water and 67.4% face summer pipeline shortages) aligns with dominant migration factors, poor agricultural productivity (60.5%), and natural calamities (41.9%). Results indicate that water scarcity directly undermines livelihoods, pushing 67.4% of households in Group 4 to seek employment outside the region. The findings reveal strong interlinkages among gender, water insecurity, and livelihood pressures, underscoring the need for participatory, gender-inclusive approaches to springshed management. Integrating social-hydrology with community perceptions provides a practical framework to understand and address springshed vulnerabilities, strengthen watershed management, and advance the Sustainable Development Goals across the Hindu Kush Himalaya. Socio-hydrological research or watershed management practices can only advance when they are directly connected with the sustainable economic benefits for the local villagers. Proposed Value Addition to Watershed Management (VA2WM) framework integrates hydrological observations with socio-economic and gender-based analyses within a transdisciplinary socio-hydrological approach for the spring rejuvenation in the Himalayan regions.