Effect of Indira Sagar dam on the health assessment of Narmada river

River health is defined as the condition of a river (Xu and Liu in Water Resour 41(2):218-224, 2014). It depends on hydrology, water quality, river biota and social functions. This chapter deals only with the river health aspects based on hydrologic parameters. This is achieved by analysing different time series of flows for the same river. Different indices are analysed in the present study to understand the present condition of the Narmada river. These indices are selected based on their suitability for Indian rivers and data availability for the river. The present study uses different software such as SAAS, IHA, Flow Health and RAP to analyse the data. Monthly and daily discharge data are used for this purpose. The values of the indices are verified for high-flow and low-flow seasons of the river. In this paper, river health is compared between two time periods before and after the impact of the Indira Sagar dam. It is observed that river health has declined during the post-impact period.