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This report was created with the free Global Watersheds web app on .
Creative Commons License BY 4.0.
This report is for the watershed with an outlet near 25°38'02"N, 89°44'02"E, or (25.634, 89.734), with a drainage area of around 492,000 km².
The watershed is located in six countries, as shown below in Table 1 below.
Table 1. Countries in the watershed.
| Country | Area (km²) | Percent of watershed |
|---|---|---|
| China | 276,000 | 56% |
| India | 176,000 | 36% |
| Bhutan | 39,300 | 8% |
| Bangladesh | 785 | 0% |
| Myanmar | 755 | 0% |
| Nepal | 22 | 0% |
Data on political boundaries comes from Natural Earth, https://www.naturalearthdata.com.
The watershed has an estimated population of 42,300,000 in the year 2020. Figure 1 shows how population has changed from 1990 to 2020. The population grew at an average rate of 1.4% per year over this time period.
Population data comes from GlobPop, Global Gridded Population Estimates, created by researchers at Beijing Normal University (Liu 2024).
Human population growth can affect water quality via increased pollution from households, industry, and agriculture. Further, land use and land cover change associated with population growth can have a major impact on watersheds (see the next section of this report).
The most common land cover type in the watershed is tree cover, covering 167,000 km² in 2020. More detailed information about land cover and how it has changed is shown in Table 3 and Figure 2 below. Pairs of bars represent the area for each land cover type in the years 2000 and 2020.
Table 3. Land cover in the watershed.
| Land Cover Type | Area in 2000, km² | Area in 2020, km² | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tree cover | 168,000 | 167,000 | 0% |
| Semi-arid | 156,000 | 155,000 | 0% |
| Dense short vegetation | 65,200 | 63,500 | -2% |
| Desert | 34,700 | 35,500 | 2% |
| Cropland | 21,600 | 23,400 | 8% |
| Snow and ice | 19,600 | 17,200 | -12% |
| Built-up | 6,660 | 12,000 | 81% |
| Open surface water | 10,300 | 10,200 | 0% |
| Wetland + tree cover | 4,010 | 3,860 | -3% |
| Wetland + dense short vegetation | 5,330 | 3,730 | -30% |
| Wetland + sparse vegetation | 1,720 | 1,650 | -3% |
| Salt pan | 612 | 648 | 5% |
Land cover data comes from the GLAD: Global Land Cover and Land Use Change, 2000-2020 (Popatov et al. 2022). This dataset, created by researchers at the University of Maryland, is available online here. Classification is based on satellite imagery from Landsat and machine learning tools.
Land cover change can profoundly influence watershed hydrology and water quality. Urbanization and development can increase the impervious cover, causing more water to run off rather than infiltrate into the ground. This can decrease groundwater recharge and river baseflows, or the flows that occur during dry times. Deforestation and agricultural development are often accompanied by an increase in soil erosion and sediment loads. Other land use types are associated with water pollution. For example, agriculture can increase loads of pesticides and nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorus) from fertilizers. Urbanization and industrialization can cause contamination from a wide range of chemicals used in households and industry.
The average annual precipitation over the watershed is 1,093 mm/year. (Precipitation includes all forms of water, including snow and rain.) Some of this water leaves the watershed surface via evaporation and transpiration, or the loss of water from plants. Annual evapotranspiration is estimated at 519 mm/year. The basin climatology, or the monthly average precipitation and evapotranspiration, is shown in Figure 4.
Precipitation data comes from WorldClim, a global gridded dataset by researchers at the University of East Anglia (Harris et al. 2020). This dataset is based on downscaling and bias-correcting the CRU-TS dataset (Fick and Hijmans 2017), which is based on a large collection of station observations that span 1901–2018.
Evapotranspiration is even more difficult to estimate than precipitation. Here, we use a dataset, GLEAM v3.6B, which combines modeling and remote sensing data (Martens et al. 2017; Miralles et al. 2011).
It is difficult to estimate water cycle variables over large areas. So you should keep in mind that these estimates are uncertain (not perfect).
The GRACE satellites provide information about changes in the amount of water over different locations on the Earth. Figure 3 shows the average terrestrial water storage anomaly over the watershed.
The GRACE satellites make highly accurate measurements of the Earth's gravitational field, and provide measurements of changes in the mass of water on a monthly time scale. These measurements do not tell us how much water there is in a region, but rather, how it the amount of water has changed compared to a baseline. The measurement includes all forms of water, including water in rivers, lakes, and reservoirs, soil moisture, groundwater, glaciers, snow, and ice. For an introduction to GRACE, see the section of my PhD thesis on Remote Sensing of the Water Cycle.
The total amount of water in the watershed appears to be trending downwards at a rate of -14.3 cm per decade (P < 0.01). This P-value suggests that the observed trend is statistically significant; it is unlikely the trend is due to random chance.
GRACE Terrestrial Water Storage Anomaly data is from the Center for Space Research at the University of Texas, Austin (Save et al. 2016, 2022).
The watershed had about 8450.9 km² of land equipped for irrigation in 2005. This is about 1.7% of the watershed. Figure 5 shows the development of irrigated area from 1900 to 2005. These estimates are based on a global dataset published by an international team of researchers (Siebert et al. 2015).
Irrigation brings many benefits for growing crops. In arid regions, it enables production where it would be otherwise impossible. In humid regions, irrigation can increase crop quality and yield, and provide more certainty against unpredictable climate. Yet, the expansion of irrigation can have impacts on watersheds that need to be carefully managed.
Increased irrigation usually requires more water to be withdrawn from rivers, lakes, or groundwater sources, which can reduce streamflow and alter natural flow patterns. This reduced flow can harm aquatic ecosystems and diminish the water available downstream for other uses. Irrigation often introduces fertilizers and pesticides into the watershed, and may increase soil erosion and sediment transport. When nutrients run off into rivers and streams, they can lead to nutrient pollution, algal blooms, and eutrophication. This plus chemical pesticides and herbicides negatively impacts aquatic life and water quality for human uses.
This watershed contains 27 dams identified in the Global Dam Watch database, with a total storage capacity of 4,770 million m³.
Information on these dams is listed in Table 4. The number and size of dams in a watershed is one measure of hydromodification, or how much the natural hydrologic cycle is influenced by human activities.
Table 4. Dams in the watershed. Unknown or missing data shown with a dash.
| Dam Name | Reservoir Name | River | Main Use | Year | Dam Height (m) | Capacity (10⁶ m³) | Latitude | Longitude | URL |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| – | – | – | – | – | 29.638 | 91.067 | – | ||
| – | – | – | – | – | 29.741 | 94.145 | – | ||
| – | – | – | – | – | 29.311 | 88.895 | – | ||
| – | – | – | – | – | 26.398 | 89.657 | – | ||
| – | – | – | – | – | 28.957 | 96.635 | – | ||
| – | – | – | – | – | 26.464 | 90.148 | – | ||
| – | – | – | – | – | 28.840 | 89.807 | – | ||
| – | – | – | – | – | 28.840 | 89.780 | – | ||
| – | – | – | – | – | 29.888 | 93.351 | – | ||
| – | – | – | – | – | 29.644 | 91.096 | – | ||
| Kameng | – | – | Hydroelectricity | – | 27.302 | 92.623 | – | ||
| – | – | – | – | Built before 1985 | 1871.4 | 28.222 | 89.388 | – | |
| Pangduo | – | Lhasa | Hydroelectricity | Built 2014 | 158.0 | 1230.0 | 30.183 | 91.351 | link |
| – | – | – | – | – | 543.4 | 29.996 | 93.890 | – | |
| – | – | – | – | Built 2001 | 269.5 | 26.231 | 94.262 | – | |
| Zhikong | – | Lhasa | Hydroelectricity | Built 2007 | 58.0 | 224.0 | 29.969 | 91.877 | link |
| Umiam | Umiam | Umiam | Hydroelectricity | Built 1964 | 78.0 | 182.7 | 25.657 | 91.897 | – |
| Manla | – | Niancuhe | Irrigation | Built 2000 | 76.0 | 155.0 | 28.847 | 89.834 | link |
| Umrong | – | Umrong | Hydroelectricity | Built 1982 | 78.5 | 25.526 | 92.713 | – | |
| – | – | – | – | Built 2010 | 71.4 | 29.899 | 93.656 | – | |
| – | – | – | – | Built 2015 | 45.5 | 29.186 | 92.517 | – | |
| Yamzho Yumco | Yamdrok Lake | Mequ River | Hydroelectricity | Built 1996 | 42.0 | 29.095 | 90.379 | link | |
| – | – | – | – | – | 35.5 | 29.803 | 94.423 | – | |
| Khandong | – | Kopili | Hydroelectricity | Built 1987 | 16.6 | 25.527 | 92.631 | – | |
| – | – | – | – | – | 3.9 | 26.299 | 90.581 | – | |
| – | – | – | – | – | 2.9 | 25.734 | 91.804 | – | |
| – | – | – | – | Built 2006 | 1.7 | 27.037 | 89.594 | – |
Dams serve many useful purposes including electric generation, water supply, irrigation, flood control, and recreation. However, if not carefully planned and managed, dams can have a heavy environmental impact. Today, many governments are removing dams to bring rivers back to life.
For a detailed look at the impact of dams on people and the environment, I encourage you to read the book Silenced Rivers by Patrick McCully. To help conserve free-flowing rivers, consider supporting the nonprofit International Rivers.
Data on dams comes from the Global Dam Watch database, published in July 2024. For more details, see the journal article by lead researchers at McGill University (Lehner et al. 2024).
The longest river is the watershed is 3,320 km long. It is shown highlighted in the map in Figure 5 below.
This is the longest continuous flowline in the source dataset, MERIT-Basins. It is not necessarily the mainstem of the river, or the one with the same name. When it comes to naming rivers, historical, legal, and cultural influences are also important.
Figure 6 shows the elevation profile of the longest river reach. Elevations on the plot are in meters above mean sea level. The river begins at 5,190 m, and the outlet is at 15 m.
Elevation data for the profile plot is from MERIT-DEM (Yamazaki et al. 2017). Actual distances on the plot may be underestimated somewhat. This is because river paths are based on a grid or raster data, which simplifies the meandering path of real-world rivers.
Terrain elevations in the watershed range from 21 m to 6,500 m above sea level. The average, or mean, elevation is 3,300 m. Figure 7 shows a distribution of terrain elevations in the watershed.
Elevation data is provided by EarthEnv (Amatulli et al. 2021), and is based on the Global Multi-resolution Terrain Elevation Data 2010 dataset (GMTED2010). Statistics are based on gridded elevation data with pixels that are about 5 km on a side. Because of the size of the pixels, some smoothing takes place, and so the statistics reported above may not capture the true minimum and maximum elevation.
The watershed is home to 172 threatened freshwater species. Table 5 shows the species that are endangered, vulnerable, or near-threatened, based on assessments by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, or IUCN. Data comes from the IUCN Red List.
For a photo of the species, hover the mouse over Scientific Name in the table, or tap on mobile. Click the link under Status to view the IUCN assessment. Here you can find out more about the reasons the species decline, view maps of the species distribution, and read about any conservation measures being taken.
Table 5. Threatened species in the watershed.
| Type | Scientific Name | Common Name | Status | Presence |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| fish | Schizothorax integrilabiatus | Unknown | Critically Endangered ⧉ | Extant |
| reptiles | Batagur dhongoka | Three-striped Roofed Turtle | Critically Endangered ⧉ | Extant |
| birds | Aythya baeri | Baer’s Pochard | Critically Endangered ⧉ | Extant |
| amphibians | Megophrys oreocrypta | Garo White-lipped Horned Frog | Critically Endangered ⧉ | Possibly Extant |
| fish | Schizothorax nepalensis | Snow Trout | Critically Endangered ⧉ | Extant |
| amphibians | Leptobrachella lateralis | Nagaland Asian Toad | Critically Endangered ⧉ | Extant |
| birds | Heliopais personatus | Masked Finfoot | Critically Endangered ⧉ | Possibly Extant |
| amphibians | Megophrys dzukou | Dzükou Valley Horned Frog | Critically Endangered ⧉ | Extant |
| fish | Schistura papulifera | Unknown | Critically Endangered ⧉ | Extant |
| reptiles | Pangshura sylhetensis | Assam Roofed Turtle | Critically Endangered ⧉ | Extant |
| birds | Rhodonessa caryophyllacea | Pink-headed Duck | Critically Endangered ⧉ | Extinct |
| amphibians | Scutiger spinosus | Spiny Lazy Toad | Critically Endangered ⧉ | Extant |
| birds | Emberiza aureola | Yellow-breasted Bunting | Critically Endangered ⧉ | Extant |
| fish | Schizothorax raraensis | Rara Snowtrout | Critically Endangered ⧉ | Extant |
| birds | Asarcornis scutulata | White-winged Duck | Critically Endangered ⧉ | Possibly Extinct |
| birds | Ardea insignis | White-bellied Heron | Critically Endangered ⧉ | Extant |
| reptiles | Gavialis gangeticus | Gharial | Critically Endangered ⧉ | Extant |
| reptiles | Nilssonia nigricans | Black Softshell Turtle | Critically Endangered ⧉ | Extant |
| birds | Laticilla cinerascens | Swamp Grass-babbler | Endangered ⧉ | Possibly Extant |
| fish | Amblyceps arunchalensis | Unknown | Endangered ⧉ | Extant |
| amphibians | Megophrys vegrandis | Unknown | Endangered ⧉ | Extant |
| amphibians | Megophrys periosa | Giant Himalayan Horned Frog | Endangered ⧉ | Extant |
| fish | Schistura tigrina | Unknown | Endangered ⧉ | Extant |
| amphibians | Megophrys zunhebotoensis | Zunheboto’s Horned Toad | Endangered ⧉ | Extant |
| amphibians | Megophrys medogensis | Medog Horned Toad | Endangered ⧉ | Extant |
| amphibians | Megophrys megacephala | Big Headed Horned Frog | Endangered ⧉ | Extant |
| fish | Lepidocephalichthys arunachalensis | Unknown | Endangered ⧉ | Extant |
| birds | Rynchops albicollis | Indian Skimmer | Endangered ⧉ | Possibly Extinct |
| birds | Haliaeetus leucoryphus | Pallas’s Fish-eagle | Endangered ⧉ | Extant |
| fish | Devario horai | Unknown | Endangered ⧉ | Extant |
| reptiles | Thermophis baileyi | Xizang Hot-spring Keel-back | Endangered ⧉ | Extant |
| fish | Schistura minuta | Tiny stone loach | Endangered ⧉ | Probably Extant |
| fish | Pillaia indica | Unknown | Endangered ⧉ | Probably Extant |
| fish | Schistura sijuensis | Unknown | Endangered ⧉ | Extant |
| amphibians | Amolops medogensis | Medog Torrent Frog | Endangered ⧉ | Extant |
| birds | Falco cherrug | Saker Falcon | Endangered ⧉ | Extant |
| mammals | Axis porcinus | Hog Deer | Endangered ⧉ | Extant |
| mammals | Platanista gangetica | Ganges River Dolphin | Endangered ⧉ | Extant |
| mammals | Bubalus arnee | Wild Water Buffalo | Endangered ⧉ | Extant |
| shrimps | Arachnochium kulsiense | Unknown | Endangered ⧉ | Probably Extant |
| reptiles | Cuora mouhotii | Keeled Box Turtle | Endangered ⧉ | Extant |
| amphibians | Megophrys flavipunctata | Yellow Spotted White-lipped Horned Frog | Endangered ⧉ | Extant |
| reptiles | Nilssonia hurum | Indian Peacock Softshell Turtle | Endangered ⧉ | Extant |
| amphibians | Nanorana medogensis | Medog Spiny Frog | Endangered ⧉ | Extant |
| amphibians | Minervarya sengupti | Sengupta’s Frog | Endangered ⧉ | Extant |
| birds | Calidris tenuirostris | Great Knot | Endangered ⧉ | Extant |
| birds | Sterna acuticauda | Black-bellied Tern | Endangered ⧉ | Extant |
| amphibians | Megophrys himalayana | Himalayan Horned Frog | Endangered ⧉ | Extant |
| fish | Pterocryptis barakensis | Barak silurus | Endangered ⧉ | Extant |
| amphibians | Amolops monticola | Mountain Cascade Frog | Endangered ⧉ | Presence Uncertain |
| reptiles | Nilssonia gangetica | Indian Softshell Turtle | Endangered ⧉ | Extant |
| birds | Neophron percnopterus | Egyptian Vulture | Endangered ⧉ | Extant |
| reptiles | Cuora amboinensis | Southeast Asian Box Turtle | Endangered ⧉ | Extant |
| fish | Tor putitora | Unknown | Endangered ⧉ | Extant |
| amphibians | Megophrys oropedion | Shyllong Horned Toad | Endangered ⧉ | Extant |
| reptiles | Morenia petersi | Indian Eyed Turtle | Endangered ⧉ | Extant |
| reptiles | Geoclemys hamiltonii | Spotted Pond Turtle | Endangered ⧉ | Extant |
| reptiles | Hardella thurjii | Crowned River Turtle | Endangered ⧉ | Extant |
| molluscs | Lymnaea ovalior | Unknown | Vulnerable ⧉ | Probably Extant |
| amphibians | Minervarya chilapata | Chilapata Rainpool Frog | Vulnerable ⧉ | Extant |
| birds | Schoenicola striatus | Bristled Grassbird | Vulnerable ⧉ | Extant |
| fish | Schistura nagaensis | Unknown | Vulnerable ⧉ | Probably Extant |
| fish | Aborichthys garoensis | Unknown | Vulnerable ⧉ | Extant |
| birds | Pellorneum palustre | Marsh Babbler | Vulnerable ⧉ | Possibly Extinct |
| birds | Sterna aurantia | River Tern | Vulnerable ⧉ | Extant |
| amphibians | Tylototriton himalayanus | Himalayan Salamander | Vulnerable ⧉ | Extant |
| birds | Grus antigone | Sarus Crane | Vulnerable ⧉ | Extinct |
| birds | Clanga clanga | Greater Spotted Eagle | Vulnerable ⧉ | Extant |
| fish | Schistura reticulofasciata | Unknown | Vulnerable ⧉ | Extant |
| birds | Paradoxornis flavirostris | Black-breasted Parrotbill | Vulnerable ⧉ | Possibly Extant |
| fish | Schistura chindwinica | Ngatup | Vulnerable ⧉ | Probably Extant |
| birds | Pluvialis squatarola | Grey Plover | Vulnerable ⧉ | Extant |
| amphibians | Megophrys awuh | Naga Hills Horned Frog | Vulnerable ⧉ | Extant |
| birds | Chrysomma altirostre | Jerdon’s Babbler | Vulnerable ⧉ | Extant |
| birds | Calidris ferruginea | Curlew Sandpiper | Vulnerable ⧉ | Extant |
| birds | Aythya ferina | Common Pochard | Vulnerable ⧉ | Extant |
| amphibians | Amolops assamensis | Assamese Cascade Frog | Vulnerable ⧉ | Presence Uncertain |
| fish | Physoschistura elongata | Long bladder loach | Vulnerable ⧉ | Probably Extant |
| fish | Schizopygopsis scleracanthus | Unknown | Vulnerable ⧉ | Extant |
| fish | Garra compressa | Unknown | Vulnerable ⧉ | Probably Extant |
| reptiles | Pangshura tecta | Indian Roofed Turtle | Vulnerable ⧉ | Extant |
| birds | Gallinago nemoricola | Wood Snipe | Vulnerable ⧉ | Extant |
| molluscs | Tricula mahadevensis | Unknown | Vulnerable ⧉ | Probably Extant |
| mammals | Prionailurus viverrinus | Fishing Cat | Vulnerable ⧉ | Possibly Extant |
| reptiles | Crocodylus palustris | Mugger | Vulnerable ⧉ | Extant |
| fish | Devario assamensis | Unknown | Vulnerable ⧉ | Probably Extant |
| fish | Glyptothorax manipurensis | Unknown | Vulnerable ⧉ | Probably Extant |
| mammals | Aonyx cinereus | Asian Small-clawed Otter | Vulnerable ⧉ | Extant |
| mammals | Lutrogale perspicillata | Smooth-coated Otter | Vulnerable ⧉ | Extant |
| fish | Myersglanis jayarami | Unknown | Vulnerable ⧉ | Probably Extant |
| mammals | Rucervus duvaucelii | Barasingha | Vulnerable ⧉ | Extant |
| amphibians | Nanorana arunachalensis | Arunachal Cascade Frog | Vulnerable ⧉ | Extant |
| fish | Aborichthys tikaderi | Unknown | Vulnerable ⧉ | Extant |
| fish | Pseudecheneis sirenica | Unknown | Vulnerable ⧉ | Probably Extant |
| fish | Bagarius bagarius | Unknown | Vulnerable ⧉ | Extant |
| crabs | Liotelphusa quadrata | Unknown | Vulnerable ⧉ | Probably Extant |
| fish | Devario acuticephala | Unknown | Vulnerable ⧉ | Probably Extant |
| fish | Sisor barakensis | Unknown | Vulnerable ⧉ | Extant |
| amphibians | Uperodon assamensis | Assamese Balloon Frog | Vulnerable ⧉ | Extant |
| mammals | Rhinoceros unicornis | Greater One-horned Rhino | Vulnerable ⧉ | Extant |
| fish | Garra manipurensis | Manipur garra | Vulnerable ⧉ | Probably Extant |
| fish | Schizothorax plagiostomus | Snow Trout | Vulnerable ⧉ | Extant |
| birds | Halcyon pileata | Black-capped Kingfisher | Vulnerable ⧉ | Extant |
| crabs | Phricotelphusa elegans | Unknown | Vulnerable ⧉ | Extant |
| birds | Calidris falcinellus | Broad-billed Sandpiper | Vulnerable ⧉ | Extant |
| reptiles | Xenochrophis cerasogaster | Painted Keelback | Vulnerable ⧉ | Extant |
| fish | Wallago attu | Unknown | Vulnerable ⧉ | Extant |
| fish | Schistura singhi | Unknown | Vulnerable ⧉ | Extant |
| fish | Pseudecheneis ukhrulensis | Unknown | Vulnerable ⧉ | Probably Extant |
| fish | Schizopygopsis dobula | Unknown | Vulnerable ⧉ | Extant |
| reptiles | Lissemys punctata | Indian Flapshell Turtle | Vulnerable ⧉ | Extant |
| fish | Schistura inglisi | Unknown | Vulnerable ⧉ | Extant |
| amphibians | Philautus namdaphaensis | Tirap Bubble-nest Frog | Vulnerable ⧉ | Extant |
| fish | Danio jaintianensis | Unknown | Vulnerable ⧉ | Extant |
| fish | Schistura manipurensis | Manipur stone loach | Near Threatened ⧉ | Extant |
| fish | Danio kyathit | Unknown | Near Threatened ⧉ | Probably Extant |
| birds | Graminicola bengalensis | Indian Grass-babbler | Near Threatened ⧉ | Extant |
| fish | Ompok pabda | Unknown | Near Threatened ⧉ | Extant |
| fish | Anguilla bicolor | Shortfin Eel | Near Threatened ⧉ | Extant |
| amphibians | Amolops himalayanus | Himalaya Sucker Frog | Near Threatened ⧉ | Extant |
| fish | Aborichthys kempi | Unknown | Near Threatened ⧉ | Extant |
| amphibians | Amolops nyingchiensis | Nyingchi Cascade Frog | Near Threatened ⧉ | Extant |
| fish | Garra elongata | Elongated stone sucker | Near Threatened ⧉ | Probably Extant |
| birds | Circus macrourus | Pallid Harrier | Near Threatened ⧉ | Extant |
| birds | Calliope pectardens | Firethroat | Near Threatened ⧉ | Extant |
| fish | Ompok pabo | Unknown | Near Threatened ⧉ | Extant |
| fish | Microphis deocata | Deocata Pipefish | Near Threatened ⧉ | Extant |
| mammals | Lutra lutra | Eurasian Otter | Near Threatened ⧉ | Extant |
| birds | Icthyophaga humilis | Lesser Fish-eagle | Near Threatened ⧉ | Extant |
| birds | Leptoptilos javanicus | Lesser Adjutant | Near Threatened ⧉ | Extant |
| birds | Vanellus duvaucelii | River Lapwing | Near Threatened ⧉ | Extant |
| birds | Aythya nyroca | Ferruginous Duck | Near Threatened ⧉ | Extant |
| birds | Numenius arquata | Eurasian Curlew | Near Threatened ⧉ | Extant |
| molluscs | Sphaerium austeni | Unknown | Near Threatened ⧉ | Probably Extant |
| fish | Triplophysa siluroides | Unknown | Near Threatened ⧉ | Extant |
| reptiles | Herpetoreas xenura | Strange-tailed Keelback | Near Threatened ⧉ | Extant |
| fish | Ctenops nobilis | Unknown | Near Threatened ⧉ | Extant |
| crabs | Liotelphusa laevis | Unknown | Near Threatened ⧉ | Probably Extant |
| crabs | Liotelphusa gagei | Unknown | Near Threatened ⧉ | Probably Extant |
| fish | Channa bleheri | Rainbow Snakehead | Near Threatened ⧉ | Extant |
| fish | Syncrossus berdmorei | Tiger Botia | Near Threatened ⧉ | Probably Extant |
| amphibians | Megophrys wuliangshanensis | Wuliangshan Horned Toad | Near Threatened ⧉ | Presence Uncertain |
| fish | Anguilla bengalensis | Indian Mottled Eel | Near Threatened ⧉ | Extant |
| crabs | Maydelliathelphusa edentula | Unknown | Near Threatened ⧉ | Probably Extant |
| fish | Balitora brucei | Unknown | Near Threatened ⧉ | Extant |
| birds | Limosa lapponica | Bar-tailed Godwit | Near Threatened ⧉ | Extant |
| birds | Pelecanus crispus | Dalmatian Pelican | Near Threatened ⧉ | Extant |
| birds | Leptoptilos dubius | Greater Adjutant | Near Threatened ⧉ | Extant |
| birds | Vanellus vanellus | Northern Lapwing | Near Threatened ⧉ | Extant |
| birds | Calidris ruficollis | Red-necked Stint | Near Threatened ⧉ | Extant |
| reptiles | Varanus bengalensis | Bengal Monitor Lizard | Near Threatened ⧉ | Extant |
| birds | Limosa limosa | Black-tailed Godwit | Near Threatened ⧉ | Extant |
| fish | Ompok bimaculatus | Unknown | Near Threatened ⧉ | Probably Extant |
| fish | Oxygymnocypris stewartii | Unknown | Near Threatened ⧉ | Extant |
| amphibians | Rhacophorus verrucopus | wart-footed tree frog | Near Threatened ⧉ | Extant |
| amphibians | Nanorana gammii | Gammii Frog | Near Threatened ⧉ | Extant |
| birds | Pelecanus philippensis | Spot-billed Pelican | Near Threatened ⧉ | Extant |
| birds | Ceyx erithaca | Black-backed Dwarf-kingfisher | Near Threatened ⧉ | Extant |
| amphibians | Rhacophorus translineatus | Medog Flying Frog | Near Threatened ⧉ | Extant |
| birds | Esacus recurvirostris | Great Thick-knee | Near Threatened ⧉ | Extant |
| birds | Calidris alpina | Dunlin | Near Threatened ⧉ | Extant |
| fish | Parambassis lala | Highfin Glassy Perchlet | Near Threatened ⧉ | Probably Extant |
| reptiles | Pangshura smithii | Brown Roofed Turtle | Near Threatened ⧉ | Extant |
| fish | Garo khajuriai | Garo Spineless Eel | Near Threatened ⧉ | Extant |
| birds | Grus nigricollis | Black-necked Crane | Near Threatened ⧉ | Extant |
| birds | Arenaria interpres | Ruddy Turnstone | Near Threatened ⧉ | Extant |
| birds | Ciconia episcopus | Asian Woollyneck | Near Threatened ⧉ | Extant |
| amphibians | Amolops aniqiaoensis | Aniqiao Torrent Frog | Near Threatened ⧉ | Extant |
| birds | Alcedo hercules | Blyth’s Kingfisher | Near Threatened ⧉ | Extant |
| birds | Calidris canutus | Red Knot | Near Threatened ⧉ | Extant |
| birds | Icthyophaga ichthyaetus | Grey-headed Fish-eagle | Near Threatened ⧉ | Extant |
| reptiles | Cyclemys gemeli | Assam Leaf Turtle | Near Threatened ⧉ | Extant |
The presence of endangered species in a watershed provides important information about ecosystem health and biodiversity. Many factors can threaten endangered species within watersheds:
Water management plays an important role in protecting endangered species. This includes maintaining adequate streamflows, protecting riparian zones and wetlands, controlling pollution sources, and preserving habitat connectivity throughout the watershed.
If you're concerned about endangered species in your watershed, there are many ways you can help. Support organizations working on species conservation and habitat protection, or local watershed councils and land trusts in your area. Many watersheds have dedicated conservation groups focused on protecting local rivers, wetlands, and wildlife. Search for [your watershed name] + "conservation," "river keeper," or "watershed association."
You can also take direct action in your community. Participate in river cleanups, plant native vegetation along stream banks, reduce pesticide and fertilizer use, and support land use policies that protect riparian corridors and wetlands.
If you own property near streams or wetlands, consider conservation easements through organizations like the Land Trust Alliance.
Report wildlife sightings to citizen science platforms like iNaturalist or eBird. Your observations can contribute to scientific understanding and conservation planning. Finally, use your voice: contact local officials to support clean water regulations, habitat protection, and sustainable development practices that consider watershed health and wildlife needs.
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