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LINKING OF RIVERS in india

Narendra M SPGS15AGR6908Dept. of Agronomy

UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURAL SCIENCES, DHARWADCOLLEGE OF AGRICULTURE, VIJAYAPUR

WHY WILL BE INDIA WATER DEFICIT?

Annual rainfall- 400 m.ha.m. Total utilizable surface and ground water after full

development of water resources-114m.ha.m.

UTILIZATION:1991- 58m.ha.m.2001- 79m.ha.m

2025- 114m.ha.m

Thus the entire quantum of utilization water will be exhausted by the year 2025.

Proposed solution

INTERLINKING OF RIVERS

River linking

River Linking is a project linking two or more rivers by creating a network of manually created canals, and providing land areas that otherwise does not have river water access and reducing the flow of water to sea using this means.

It is based on the assumptions that surplus water in some rivers can be diverted to deficit rivers by creating a network of canals to interconnect the rivers.

The Indian Rivers Inter-link is a proposed large-scale civil engineering project that aims to link Indian Rivers by a network of reservoirs and canals and so reduce persistent floods in some parts and water shortages in other parts of India.

HISTORY OF INTERLINKING1972- Ganga Cauvery link proposed by Dr. K.L.Rao .

1974-“Garland canal” proposal by captain Dastur .

1980- Ministry of water resources frames the National perspective plan(NPP) .

1982- The National water development agency (NWDA) set up to carry out pre feasibility studies .

1999-A National commission (NCIWRDP) set up to review NWDA reports .

Aug 15, 2002- President Abdul Kalam mentions the need for river linking in his independence day speech .

Oct 2002- Supreme court recommends that the government formulate a plan to link the major Indian rivers by the year 2012.

Dec 2002- Govt. appointed a task force on interlinking of 37 rivers led by Mr. Suresh Prabhu. The deadline was revised to 2016.

The Inter-link project has been split into three parts

A.Northern Himalayan rivers inter-link component

B.Southern Peninsular component andC.Intrastate rivers linking component.

 The project is being managed by India's National Water Development Agency (NWDA), under its Ministry of Water Resources. NWDA has studied and prepared reports on 14 inter-link projects for Himalayan component, 16 inter-link projects for Peninsular component and 37 intrastate river linking projects.

Main features of Inter linking of Rivers 

linking the river basins in 2 components

1) Himalyan component>linking ganga-brahmaputra-mahanadi-godavri-krishna-pennar and cavery.>linking eastern ganga tributaries to western ganga tributaries and sabarmati basin

2) peninsular component >linking-mahanadi-godavri-krishna-cavery and ken-betwa

I. Himalayan componentHimalayan Rivers Development envisages construction of

storage reservoirs on the main Ganga and the Brahmaputra and their principal tributaries in India and Nepal along with inter-linking canal system to transfer surplus flows of the eastern tributaries of the Ganga to the West apart from linking of the main Brahmaputra with the Ganga.

part from providing irrigation to an additional area of about 22 million hectares the generation of about 30 million kilowatt of hydro-power, it will provide substantial flood control in the Ganga-Brahmaputra basin. The Scheme will benefit not only the States in the Ganga-Brahmaputra Basin, but also Nepal and Bangladesh, assuming river flow management treaties are successfully negotiated.

The Himalayan 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. This is expected to contribute to flood control measures in the Ganga and Brahmaputra river basins. It could also provide excess water for the Farakka Barrage to flush out the silt at the port of Kolkatta.

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

Himalayan Component Kosi – MechiKosi – Ghagra

Gandak – GangaGhagra – YamunaSarda – Yamuna

Yamuna – RajasthanRajasthan – SabarmatiChunar – Sone Barrage

Sone Dam – Southern Tributaries of GangaBrahmputra – Ganga Brahmputra – Ganga Farakka – Sunderbans

Ganga – Damodar – SubernrekhaSubernrekha – Mahanadi

List of proposed Links

II. Peninsular Component

This Scheme is divided in four major parts.

1. Interlinking of Mahanadi-Godavari-Krishna-Pennar-Cauvery,2. Interlinking of West Flowing Rivers, North of Bombay and South of Tapi,3. Inter-linking of Ken with Chambal and4. Diversion of some water from West Flowing Rivers

This component will irrigate an additional 25 million hectares by surface waters, 10 million hectares by increased use of ground waters and generate hydro power, apart from benefits of improved flood control and regional navigation.

The main part of the project would send water from the eastern part of India to the south and west. he southern development project (Phase I) would consist of four main parts. First, the Mahanadi, Godavari, Krishna and Cauvery rivers would all be inter-linked by canals. Reservoirs and dams would be built along the course of these rivers. These would be used to transfer surplus water from the Mahanadi and Godavari rivers to the south of India.

Under Phase II, some rivers that flow west to the north of Mumbai and the south of Tapi would be inter-linked. The water would supply additional drinking water needs of Mumbai and provide irrigation in the coastal areas of Maharashtra.

In Phase 3, the Ken and Chambal rivers would be inter-linked to serve regional water needs of Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. Over Phase 4, a number of west-flowing rivers in the Western Ghats, would be inter-linked for irrigation purposes to east flowing rivers such as Cauvery and Krishna.

Rivers Inter-Link, Himalayan and Peninsular Components

Peninsular Component Mahanadi (Manibhadra)– Godavari (d/s) Godavari (Inchampalli) – Krishna (Nagarjunsagar) Godavari (Inchampalli Low Dam) – Krishna

(Nagarjunsagar Tail Pond) Godavari (Polavaram) – Krishna (Vijaywada) Krishna (Almatti) – Pennar Krishna (Srisilam) – Pennar Krishna (Nagarjunsagar) – Pennar (Somasila) Pennar (Somasila) – Cauvery (Grand Anicut) Cauvery (Kattalai) – Vaigai – Gundar Ken – Betwa Parbati – Kalisindh – Chambal Par – Tapi – Narmada Damanganga – Pinjal Bedti – Varda Netravati – Hemavati Pamba – Achankovil – Vaippar

List of proposed Links

Intra-state inter-linking of rivers

India approved and commissioned NDWA in June 2005 to identify and complete feasibility studies of intra-State projects that would inter-link rivers within that state. ect). The States Government of Bihar proposed 6 inter-linking projects, Maharashtra 20 projects, Gujarat 1 project, Orissa 3 projects, Rajasthan 2 projects, Jharkhand 3 projects and Tamil Nadu proposed 1 inter-linking proposal between rivers inside their respective territories.[19] Since 2005, NDWA completed feasibility studies on the projects, found 1 project infeasible, 20 projects as feasible, 1 project was withdrawn by Government of Maharashtra, and others are still under study.

National River Linking Project in India

The National River Linking Project (NRLP) is designed to ease water shortages in western and southern India while mitigating the impacts of recurrent floods in the eastern parts of the Ganga basin. The NRLP, if and when implemented, will be one of the biggest interbasin water transfer projects in the world

1. diminish water scarcity in western and peninsular India2. help in irrigation and storage as a large part of Indian agriculture is rainfall dependent3. mitigate droughts and floods4. reduce diversity between the water surplus and water scarce parts of India5. will create employment6. will help in socio - economic development of people

Inter linking River project is supposed to 

1. Huge capital requirement.2. project may take 50 years to complete3. can cause seismic hazards in Himalaya4. execution is difficult as 21/30 links are dependent on other links.5. displacement of tribal and poor.6. Inter state water disputes (political)7. loss of forest and biodiversity

why is it being opposed ?

The need of River linkingDrought, floods and shortage of drinking waterPopulation and food securityNavigationCurrent reserves and loss in groundwater level

Benefits of River linkingFlood Control (40 million ha area and 260 million people saved from floods that leads to damages of Rs 2400 crore/year)Drought proofing (86 million people in 14 states, 116 districts saved)Relief of 1200 crore per year from floods/ drought damagesIrrigation: 35 m ha & availability of drinking water.Hydropower generation 34 000 MW installed capacityFood grains production: 450 million tonnes by 2050NavigationGeneration of employment

ISSUES CAUSED BY INTERLINKING AND IT’S CONCERNS

1. Ecological issues – Major concern being the argument that rivers change their course in 70–100 years and once they are linked, future change of course can create huge practical problems for the project.

2. Aqua life – A number of leading environmentalists are of the opinion that the project could be an ecological disaster. There would be a decrease in downstream flows resulting in reduction of fresh water inflows into the seas seriously jeopardizing aquatic life.

3. Deforestation –Creation of canals would need large areas of land resulting large scale deforestation in certain area.

4. Areas getting submerged - Possibility of new dams comes with the threat that habitable or reserved land getting submerged under water.

5. Displacement of people –As large strips of land might have to be converted to canals, a considerable population living in this areas must need to be rehabilitated to new areas.

6. Technical feasibility- The slope, altitude and other topographical aspects have to be considered. (e.g. for Ganga, Patna is diversible surplus but for raising water to Vindhya chain i.e. 2860 ft. high enormous amount of power is required).

ALTERNATIVE TO INDIAN RIVER LINKING 1. Rainwater harvesting and conservation of water resources. 2. Recharging ground water reservoir.3. Community participation: President of India visited Alwar to honour the

people of Bhavta Kolyali villages for their successful community work in harvesting water and along with 72 other villages of Arvari river basin, make the river perennial .

4. Maintaining existing irrigation Infrastructure: The irrigation efficiencies are notoriously low at around 35% at best. As mid term of review of 9th Plan made it clear, even 10% increase in irrigation efficiency could lead to additional irrigation potential of 14 M Ha. That would still be far from the optimum possible efficiency. Should we not be attempting this on priority basis?

5. Virtual Water Trade : The virtual water trade concept suggest that water-rich countries should produce and export water-intensive commodities to water-scarce countries, thereby enabling the latter to divert their precious water resources to alternative, higher-productivity uses. Analysis by Verma et al. (2008) shows that the amount of virtual water traded between states is more or less equivalent to the water transfers of 178 Bm3 proposed in the NRLP. The concept of virtual water can be one of the alternatives to river linking.

Main Features-I

Himalayan Links

Peninsular Links

Total

Links 14 16 30Reservoirs 16 58 74Power Installed Capacity, MW

30 000 MW 4 000 34 000

Cost, crores 422 650 137 350 560 000Water Transfer, BCM 141 33 174Additional Irrigation M ha 22 13 35

30 River LinksInvolving 37 RiversHow much additional water?

300 BCM (President of India speech on May 11, 2005)174 BCM (NWDA)

Estimated cost: Rs 5 60 000 croresEstimated submergence

1 675 000 ha (Rainer Horig: 625 000 ha for canals and 1 050 000 ha for reservoirs)

Estimated displacement: 0.45 M (official document)3.47 M (Rainer Horig)

Main Features-II

Current Status..

A Group on Intra State River links has been constituted by MoWR, RD & GR on 12.03. 2015. The Group has reviewed all relevant issues on Intra – State River Links including the definition of such link, consider and suggest about the funding of intra state river link projects. The Group has held various meetings and submitted its report on 28.05.2015 to the Ministry of Water Resource, RD & GR. Ken – Betwa Link Project The various clearances for Ken – Betwa link project are in the advance stages and the Government will start implementing this National Project as model link project of ILR programme. Damanganga – Pinjal Link Project The DPR of Damanganga – Pinjal link was completed in March, 2014 and submitted to Governments of Maharasthra and Gujarat. Govt. of Maharasthra has submitted the Detailed Project Report of Damanganga – Pinjal link project to Central Water Commission during January, 2015 for appraisal.

Mahanadi – Godavari Link Project Mahanadi Godavari link is the first and critical link of nine link system of Mahanadi Godavari - Krishna - Pennar - Cauvery - Vaigai - Gundar under Peninsular Component of NPP.The Government of Odisha was not agreeable for the Mahanadi (Manibhadra) Godavari (Dowlaiswaram) link due to large submergence involved in Manibhadra dam proposed under the link project. Based on the suggestions of WRD, Govt. of Odisha, NWDA has proposed a revised preliminary proposal of Mahanadi Godavari link project with reduced submergence. A presentation on the revised proposal of Mahanadi Godavari link project has been made to the Hon’ble Chief Minister, Govt. of Odisha on 29.05.2015 by the senior officers of MoWR, RD & GR. Krishna – Godavari link projectThe interlinking of the Godavari and the Krishna has been on the anvil for almost five decades and with the commissioning of the Pattiseema scheme, four major rivers in Andhra Pradesh are now connected to one another: Godavari-Krishna, Krishna-Pennar and Pennar-Tungabhadra. Thousands of farmers in Krishna, Guntur, Prakasam, Kurnool, Kadapa, Anantapur and Chittoor districts will benefit from the Godavari-Krishna linkage. About 17 lakh acres including 13 lakhs in the Krishna delta will get assured irrigation water for two agricultural crops round the year. Thousands of villages en route will get drinking water supplies.