IIT Delhi to Build India’s First Digital Twin of Ganga River Basin

Dehradun: The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi has embarked on a groundbreaking project to create India’s first “digital twin” of the Ganga river basin. This innovative initiative is being hailed as a significant technological advancement for the scientific management of rivers. The project, which received approval on November 17, 2025, comes with an estimated budget of ₹3.3 crore and is expected to produce its initial results within a year.

Understanding the Ganga River Basin

The Ganga river, originating from the Gangotri glacier in Uttarakhand, is vital for millions of people and ecosystems downstream. It plays a crucial role in the environment, water security, agriculture, culture, and economy of the Himalayan state. As the region faces increasing climatic stress, the digital twin aims to equip Uttarakhand and other states in the basin with advanced scientific tools for effective planning concerning water resources, floods, droughts, groundwater management, and long-term ecological sustainability.

What is a Digital Twin?

A digital twin is a high-resolution, continuously updating virtual replica of a physical system. In this case, it will represent the entire Ganga river system. The project will integrate various technologies, including:

• Hydrological models
• Artificial Intelligence (AI) and machine learning tools
• Satellite remote sensing
• Climate datasets
• Ground-based sensor observations

According to IIT Delhi associate professor Manabendra Saharia, the digital twin will simulate water movement through the basin, storage mechanisms, and responses to weather patterns, human interventions, and climate variability. This system will also enable scenario-based projections, decision-support analyses, and real-time visualizations.

Benefits of the Digital Twin

The digital twin is designed to address various basin-scale challenges, including:

• Daily to seasonal flow simulations
• Identification of vulnerable floodplain zones
• Estimation of groundwater abstraction
• A comprehensive 150-year water cycle atlas

Planners and officials will have the capability to visualize the complete water cycle in real time, download analysis-ready datasets, and run future scenarios to support critical decision-making processes. The project will also tackle important questions such as:

• The impact of embankments on floods
• Zoning of floodplains
• Environmental flows and water quality
• Climate risks to water availability
• Hypothetical scenarios, such as a 10% decline in monsoon rainfall

Collaborative Efforts

This ambitious project is being executed by IIT Delhi in collaboration with several global research institutions, including:

• NASA Goddard Space Flight Centre (USA)
• Hokkaido University (Japan)
• Utrecht University (Netherlands)
• Desert Research Institute (USA)

Saharia emphasized that the system will be fully transparent, allowing agencies to continue using, modifying, and improving the models and algorithms even after the project concludes. This transparency ensures there is no vendor lock-in, enabling seamless integration with existing national scientific and water-resource platforms.

Complementary Initiatives

Alongside the digital twin project, IIT Delhi is also undertaking a parallel initiative to digitize and build a geospatial database of historical maps of the Ganga basin. This mapping project, estimated to cost over ₹2 crore, will cover materials from before 1900 to post-1950. The goal is to create a secure geo-portal that supports analytical assessments of river morphology, historical changes in floodplains, and the long-term evolution of the river system.

Conclusion

The development of a digital twin for the Ganga river basin represents a significant step forward in the management of one of India’s most vital water resources. By harnessing advanced technologies and fostering international collaboration, this initiative aims to enhance water resource planning and ecological management in the face of climate change.

Note: The information presented in this article is based on recent announcements and may be subject to change as the project progresses.