Indian Rivers Inter-link

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Map of the major rivers, lakes and reservoirs in India.

The Indian Rivers Inter-link is a proposed large-scale civil engineering project that aims to join the majority of India's rivers by canals and so reduce persistent water shortages in parts of India.

History

In 1972 the then Minister for Irrigation K. L. Rao proposed a 2640 kilometer long link between the Ganges and Kaveri rivers. In 1974 plans were proposed for the 'Garland canal'. In 1982 the National Water Development Agency was set up to carry out surveys of the links and prepare feasibility studies. The Garland Canal was proposed by Dinshaw J. Dastur, a consultant Engineer. Interlinking of rivers can be the permanent solution to Cauvery water dispute between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.

The Project

The Inter-link would consist of two parts, a northern Himalayan River Development component and a southern Peninsular River Development component.

Himalayan development

Map of the Ganges (orange), Brahmaputra (violet), and Meghna (green) drainage basins.

The northern component would consist of a series of dams built along the Ganga and Brahmaputra rivers in India, Nepal and Bhutan for the purposes of storage. Canals would be built to transfer surplus water from the eastern tributaries of the Ganga to the west. The Brahmaputra and its tributaries would be linked with the Ganga and the Ganga with the Mahanadi river. This part of the project would provide additional irrigation for about 220,000 square kilometres and generate about 30 gigawatts of electricity. In theory it would provide extra flood control in the Ganga and Brahmaputra river basins. It could also provide excess water for the controversial Farakka Barrage which could be used to flush out the silt at the port of Kolkata.

Peninsular development

The main part of the project would send water from the eastern part of India to the south and west. The southern development project would consist of four main parts. First, the Mahanadi, Godavari. Krishna and Kaveri rivers would all be linked by canals. Extra water storage dams would be built along the course of these rivers. The purpose of this would be to transfer surplus water from the Mahanadi and Godavari rivers to the south of India. Second, those rivers that flow west to the north of Mumbai and the south of Tapi would be linked. Due to the irregular fluctuations in water levels in the region, as much storage capacity would be built as possible. The water would be used by the urban areas of Bombay and also to provide irrigation in the coastal areas of Maharashtra. Third the Ken and Chambal rivers would be linked in order to provide better water facilities for Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. Finally a number of west-flowing rivers along the Western Ghats simply discharge into the Arabian Sea. As many of these as possible would be diverted for irrigation purposes. The Peninsular part of the project would provide additional irrigation to 130,000 square kilometres and generation an additional 4 gigawatts of power.

Criticism

  • Critics also point to the enormous costs conservatively estimated at some US$ 140b which India cannot afford to spend.
  • The change in elevation (a minimum of 100 m, generally increases towards the south) from the plains of northern India to the Vindhya and Satpura ranges and the Deccan Plateau beyond them, pose a major challenge to the project; as the water would have to travel upwards in order to reach Maharashtra and southern India. The average water lift to cross the Vindhya mountains is 500 meters which needs 162 billion units of electricity (20% of total India's electricity consumption in the year 2012) to pump 100 billion cubic meters (bcm) in a year.
  • Interlinking Ganga river with peninsular rivers on large scale to use all the excess water is not feasible without constructing water storage reservoirs in Ganga basin to impound the flood waters available in 60 days flooding period in monsoon season. As it is not possible to construct 100 bcm capacity water reservoirs on the flat plains of thickly populated Ganga river basin in India, Nepal's consent is required to create the required water storage in its territory.
  • The project has also been criticized for not adequately studying the impact of the interlinking of waters to the unique bio diversity of the different riverine regions. While the water availability in the southern rivers may be increased, the main reason why such project is not being put to implementation is the apprehension of future water shortage in the Northern plains as a result of Climate change, whose effects are only now known.
  • Future river projects may well have to be water conserving and localized, to prevent feelings of injustice as well as prevent significant water losses during transporting it over long distances. The effects of climate change are becoming more pronounced by the year. Incidentally, earlier centuries had seen water storage tanks being built all over the Deccan and the south, vestiges of which still exist in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.

Innovative solutions

Nearly 200 bcm water is joining the Arabian sea from west flowing rivers originating from the Western ghats located in Maharashtra, Karnataka & Kerala.[1] With 500 meters water lifting (maximum), 95% of this water can be pumped and used in all the water deficit rivers of Karnataka, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Tamilnadu and western Rajasthan (up to Sikar). Compared to bringing water from Ganga river located thousands of kilo meters away, this option is many times economical as it would supply water to all high lands and low lands of these states fully for three crops in a year.

Sweet water reservoirs (100 bcm capacity) can be established in the shallow and relatively calm Arabian sea area by constructing sea dikes / bunds at a distance of ten kilo meters or up to the depth of 12 meters from the Arabian sea coast line. Water can be pumped from this artificial sweet water lagoon throughout the year for meeting agriculture, etc. needs. Also these deep sea facing dikes can be used as sea ports for large ships and top surface as coastal road & rail routs. These proposed dikes would be similar to the reclamation of North Sea area called Delta Works in Netherlands. This man made lagoon would be nearly 1500 km long from Alang to Kanyakumari broken in to parts and interconnected by under water tunnels/ ducts (nearly 500 meters long) wherever existing ports and famous beach resorts are located.This lagoon is also interconnected to sea via locks for using the lagoon area for shipping, ship breaking, ship building, etc. purposes. The evaporation and seepage water losses from this man made lagoon would be less than the rainfall on the lagoon area.

Andhra Pradesh can utilize all the surplus water of the Godavari river by transferring to its water deficit river basins by moderate lifts (less than 200 meters).[2]

There is no need of transferring Ganga river water to Peninsular India if the water resources available in these states are put to full use with the cooperation of all the states.

Water can also be exported to Iran and Arabian Peninsula in exchange for crude oil and natural gas by extending the lagoon up to the Persian gulf. The water available in the Arabian sea coast of India is the nearest sweet water surplus region to the middle east countries. Cubic meter of sweet water can be supplied at approximate price of 0.5 US$ which is less than the price of producing sweet water from sea water by energy/electricity intensive desalination process. 200 cubic meters of water can be exchanged for one barrel of crude oil. Surplus waters of Sri Lanka can also be utilised by constructing similar man made lagoon around the coast line of Sri Lanka and interconnecting it with Indian system. Pakistan can also benefit by using some of the available sweet water in return for allowing the lagoon extension up to strait of Hormuz

See also

External links

References

  1. ↑ IWMI Research Report 83. "Spatial variation in water supply and demand across river basins of India". Retrieved 23 August 2012. 
  2. ↑ Blue Print for Godavari River Water Utilization in Andhra Pradesh
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