19 Inter Basin Water Transfer- Study of the Interlinking of River Projects, India

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Objectives

 

Meaning of Inter-Basin Water Transfer, Objectives of the National Interlinking of Rivers, Need of the River Linking , History of Indian River Linking, imalayan Components and Peninsular Components.

 

Keywords

 

Inter Basin , River , Interlinking , Water, Surplus ,Deficient , Himalayan , Peninsular and India.

 

 

INTER BASIN WATER TRANSFER – STUDY OF THE INTERLINKING OF RIVER PROJECTS, INDIA

 

Introduction

 

We have been going through floods wreaking destruction and drought which cause anguish to the people in different part of India .This is the regular phenomenon due to the disturbance in the natural distribution of the rainfall . In spite of highest rainfall receive in the world , not even one fourth of the water is utilised effectively. The amount of 4,000 billion cubic metres (BCM) of rainfall on an average is receives every year in which 75 per cent is distributed in three monsoon months i.e. summer or pre-monsoon (April to July), Monsoon or rainy (July to September) and Post-monsoon or autumn (October to November) but the intense rainfall occurs only in few hour duration. Approximately about 1,900 BCM of water is available after ground absorption, runoff and evaporation etc and the estimated utilization of water resources is approximately1122 cubic km. So, we are one of the water scared country in the world. If no proper step is being taken for the management and conservation of water then by 2050 we will be starved for water . Keeping this in mind, the government of India has developed a new idea to linked the rivers of India with a canals so that the flooded rivers water can be transfer to those with drought prone region.

 

What is Inter-Basin Water Transfer

 

Inter-Basin Water Transfer is a mission to developed or link two or more rivers by constructing a canals manually for diverting the surplus water from one basin to another deficit basin to reduce the water runoff to the sea (Fig.1) . We can also say , transfer of water from flooded Himalayan river to those with drought and scarcity rivers of peninsular India.

 

Fig.1.Water Diversion by a Link Canal

 

The need for inter linking of rivers :

 

1. Regional rainfall variation

 

   The distribution pattern of rainfall in India is uneven. There is a large scale spatial-temporal variation of rainfall. During monsoon season ( June to September ) northern and eastern part of the county get maximum rainfall while the western and southern part remain almost dry. Hence, most of the rivers in southern part does not fulfil the demand of the people. On the other hand, Ganga basin and Brahmaputra basin flooded every years and water goes waste in the sea. Therefore inter linking of river will help water scarcity regions to have water throughout the years giving an additional irrigational benefit. And this will controlled the flood in the water surplus rivers and will solve the problem for irrigation and domestic use in drought prone zone in southern part of India.

 

2. Irrigation

 

The demand for food is increasing every year and estimated to double by 2030. It is therefore necessary to increased the area under crop production. The irrigation system in India is mainly through ground water having more than 30 million tube wells. But the decline of ground water table likely reduced the production in the country. The proposed inter linking rivers basin will give benefit for food grain production to the water scarce regions. It is estimated to produce 450 million tonnes of food grain by 2050 in India .

 

3. To Control Flood and Drought

 

Flood are one of the major concerns in Himalayan Rivers particularly in Ganga and Brahmaputra rivers during monsoon seasons. There is causes of huge damages in properties and human life every years specially in the states of Assam, Bihar, West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh. On other hand, Southern states of Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu faces recurring droughts. The interlinking of River basin will transfer the flooded Himalayan river to the water deficient rivers of Peninsular India. This will not only solve the flood and drought problems but also give benefits to millions of people for irrigations and industrial uses.

     

4. Generation of Electric City

 

The link canal will have a potential to generate electric of about 34000 MW every years with new construction of canals and will be feasible to make more dams. This will help increase the possibility to generate more hydroelectric power . Therefore, the demand for the electricity in many villages will be fulfil.

 

5. Trade and Transport

 

The linking of rivers will give benefit for the development of Inland waterways which will help industries to navigate and connect the main industrial centers to transport the goods in more faster way. This mode of transport will help in reducing air pollution, road congestion and road accidents. The beautiful en-route scenic will be an addition for the development of tourism industry.

 

6. Income Generation

 

Diverting the surplus water to the deficient region will give a new occupation for the people living in the en-route command area of the link canals. This will give more opportunities like fishing, boating and increase in agriculture area utilizing the irrigation infrastructure available. This will also open up many new routes and ways giving rise to water navigation systems which will connect many region with more efficient and cheaper rate as compare to roadways. Thus, it will lead to development of Tourist Industries.

 

History of Indian River Linking:

 

The proposal for Inter linking the rivers of India started in 19th century when Sir Arthur Cotton a British India government and an engineer by profession during the British colonial rule recommended for the first time to connect major rivers channels to solved the scarcity of water and drought in south eastern part of the country and embark upon transport of goods in South Asia. Later on , Dr. K .L. Rao in 1960s who was then a irrigation minister projected an idea of linking Ganga and Cauvery with a 2640 km long canal which he called as “National Water Grid”. His idea was to link 14 major Indian rivers to divert the surplus water from Northern India to deficit area of south east part of India taking into six components. Which are :

 

 

1.     Ganga – Cauvery link passing through the basin of (Sone, Narmada, Tapi, Godavari, Krishna and Pennar)

 

2.     Brahmaputra – Ganga link

 

3.     Narmada Canal to Gujarat , Western Rajasthan and Maharashtra

 

4.     Western Ghat river –Eastern Ghat river link

 

5.     Mahanadi – Sarda canal

 

6.       Chambal – Ajmer link.

 

The proposed link canal would required to pump 26 billion cumecs of flood water from Ganga near Patna with a maximum lift of 550m heights during the monsoon. Approximately 5 to 7 million kW of power is required to transfer 1,800-3,000 cumecs of water from Brahmaputra – Ganga link to Cauvery link by lifting upto the height of 12-15m. However, his proposal was not accepted due to the heavy cost and huge power requirement.

 

Retired Captain Dinshaw J. Dastur a Pilot in 1972, suggested a ‘Garland Canal’ scheme which include 4200 km long Himalayan canal and 9,332 km long Garland canal in peninsular India. According to his proposal , 14 canals is required to link Ganga and Brahmaputra from west to east of about 2,400 km long along the Himalayas and 1,770 km towards the south. It is therefore a long canal of 9,332 km is needed to link central and Southern region. However , his proposal could not be implemented due to the heavy investment and unsound technology. But if executed, then it will be the largest inter-basin transfer of water in the world giving a additional irrigational benefit to the water deficit region and it might produced a power of about 35 GW .

 

In 1982 , The Ministry of Water Resources and National Water Development Authority (NWDA) developed a feasibility report called “National Perspectives for Water Resources Development”. The outlined of the Perspectives consists of two components i.e the Himalayan components and Peninsular components ( Fig.2) . However , the plan was abandoned till the commission for Integrated Water Resources Development carried out a detailed study in 1999.

 

In October 2002 ,the Supreme Court of India mandated that the Central Government to complete the project to link Himalayan river component to peninsular river component to provide water to the drought stricken region of India. A committee was setup under the leadership of former President Dr.A.P.J.Abdul Kalam and Prime Minister Sh.Atal Bihari Vajpayee. A detailed report were prepared to link 26 Indian major rivers by constructing 30 different link canals. The project were to begin immediately with the date line by 2016. But only six links have been completed so far and it has been disbanded after the resignation of Mr.Prabhu from the leadership .

Fig.2. The outlined of the  Link Canals

 

Himalayan Components

 

Himalayan Rivers Development component ( Fig.3) consists construction of dams and storage reservoirs along the Ganga and the Brahmaputra rivers in India, Nepal and Bhutan. This will transfer the surplus water from the eastern Ganga river through a canal to the west . Further Brahmaputra river and its tributaries will again linked to Ganga river and from Ganga to the Mahanadi river. This project will provide a additional irrigation benefit to about 220,000 sq. km of area and also generate electricity to support the local demand on en – route area. This link canal will provide inland waterway for easy and fast movement of goods. This will further provide excess water discharge for the controversial Farakka Barrage to flush out the silt at Kolkatta port.

Fig.3. Himalayan Rivers Development component

 

1. Kosi – Mechi Link Canal :

 

Kosi – Mechi link canal will divert surplus water from Kosi river to the Mahanadi river. The Canal will takeoff from exiting Hanuman Nagar Barrage on Kosi River. The total length of the canal is 112.55 km long crossing many rivers like Bakra , Ratuwa and Kankai before falling into river Parman and Mechi ( Fig.4). The canal required lifting of water through aqueduct tube before merging with Mechi river due the topography features of the region. It passes through Terai region of Nepal. This will provide irrigation facilities to the area of about 4.74 lakh hectare lying in the channel such as Araria , Kishanganj, Purnia and Katihar District of Bihar. And this will also provide navigational facility from Chatra to Ganga via Mechi and Mahananda rivers.

Fig.4. Kosi – Mechi Link Canal

 

2. Kosi – Ghaghra Link ( Karnali link) Canal :

 

The proposed link canal will start from Kosi high dam at Chatra barrage in Nepal ( Fig.5). The total length of the canal is 428.76 km long which will travels westwards connecting major rivers like Tiljuga, Khanro, Kamala , Bagmati and Lalbakkeya in Nepal and Budhi Gandak , Gandak in Bihar. This link canal will give livelihood to the total area of about 10.58 hectares in Nepal , Bihar and Uttar Pradesh having a storages capacity of about 1021 cumecs .

DO YOU KNOW !!

 

Ø Kosi Basin generally fall in the sub tropical and humid Zone.

Ø Upper portion fall in Himalayan Mountains which flows through Tibet and Nepal.

Ø Lower portion passes through plains of Bihar

Ø Total catchment area is 93,355 sq.Km.

 

Tibet ( China) 32671 sq.Km
Nepal 39678 sq.Km
India (Bihar) 21006 sq.Km

 

(Source : WRD, Govt.of Bihar)

 

Ø Kosi River is also called as the “Sorrow of Bihar” due to the frequent nature of flood which affect around 22 ,000 Sq.Km of fertile Agricultural lands and huge economy lost in Bihar.

 

3. Gandak – Ganga Link Canal :

The Gandak – Ganga link canal of 639 km long start from Gandak Barrage on Gandak river in Indo-Nepal border making its flow towards west connecting Ganga in Rai Bareli district of Uttar Pradesh ( Fig.6). It crosses many major rivers such as Rapti in the – Rapti Barrages link, Ghagra in the – Ghagra Barrages link and Gomti in the – Saryu Barrages link. This linked provide additional irrigation facilities to various district of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.

 

4. Ghaghara – Yamuna Link Canal:

 

Fig.7. Ghaghara – Yamuna Link Canal

 

Ghaghara – Yamuna link canal take off from Nepal at Chisapani dam in Karnali river which make its way towards the west (Fig.7). The canal will connect many major rivers , Sarada and gangues in Ghagra – Sarju-Rapti barrages to merge with the Yamuna river . This canal will also link to Babai/Saryu and the Rapti rivers in the east and the Mahakali/ Sarada river in the west by the Girijapur barrage on the Karnali/Ghagra river giving benefit for irrigation to many en-route area .

 

5. Sarda – Yamuna Link Canal :

 

Fig.8. Sarda – Yamuna Link Canal

 

The proposed link canal of Sarda – Yamuna Link connect the Sarda river to Yamuna river with two dams – Tehri dam having a height of 260.5 mt. and with a storage capacity of 2.6 BCM in India and Pancheswar dam of 315 mt. high with 6.56 BCM storage capacity in Indo-Nepal ( Fig.8). This canal take off from proposed barrage on Sarda river in Tanakpur town in Nainital district and travelled with a total length of 384 km to the west to join Jamuna river. And the Ghagra-Yamuna link has been similarly planned to serve the lower reaches of the Ganga ( tributary) river basin to make waters available in Sarada and Yamuna rivers through the Sarada – Yamuna link which the water is again pushed to the Luna and Sabarmati rivers in the semi-desert of Rajasthan and Gujarat.

 

6. Yamuna – Rajasthan Link

Fig.9. Yamuna – Rajasthan Link Canal

 

The proposed Yamuna-Rajasthan link canal start from the right bank of the proposed Yamuna barrage in Panipat district and travelled towards the west to join with Sukri River in Jaisalmer district of Rajasthan (Fig.9). The total length of the link canal is 786 km ( 196 km in Haryana and 590 km in Rajasthan). This link canal is an extension to the proposed Sarda-Yamuna link canal and passes through Haryana and Rajasthan to provide irrigation to the drought prone area.

 

7.  Rajasthan – Sabarmati link:

 

Rajasthan – Sabarmati link canal is an extension to the proposed Yamuna–Rajasthan Link Canal which take off from proposed barrage on Sukri river in Rajasthan (Fig.10) . The link canal travel for a total length of 725 km ( 650 km in Rajasthan and 75 km in Gujarat) to make water available at Luni and Banas river before joining with Sabarmati river . This will give benefit to the about 534,00 hectare of drought prone area of Rajasthan and Gujarat.

Fig.10. Rajasthan – Sabarmati Link Canal

 

8. Chunar – Sone Barrage link:

 

Chunar – Sone Barrage link having a length of 149.10 km long takeoff from the Chunar in Ganga river near Mirzapur district, Uttar Pradesh ( Fig.11). This canal will travelled east crossing many major rivers before falling into Sone river in Indrapuri barrage. And the link canal will have three pumping station for lifting the water at the height of 38.8 meters, 16.10 meters and 4.4 meters respectively. The en-route canal will give a benefit to many districts of UP (Mirzapur, Varanasi and Gazipur) and Bihar (Bhabhua, Rohtas, Buxar and Bhojpur).

 

Fig.11. Chunar – Sone Barrage Link Canal

 

9. Sone dam – Southern tributaries of Ganga link

 

     Sone dam – Southern tributaries of Ganga link canal takeoff from the right side of the proposed dam across Sone river near Kadwan in Jharkhand with a total length of 339 km long (Fig.12). It travelled east crossing many major rivers such as Morhar, Lilajan, Dharmajayi, Sakri and Kiul rivers before falling into Badua river. Two hydal projects of 3.5 MW and 1.5 MW capacities is also proposed near the junction of Sakri river. This will give additional irrigation beneficial to the total area of 3,07 lakh hectares in the districts of Patna, Nalanda, Gaya, Jehanabad, Munger, Bhagalpur, Nawada, Jamui and Aurangabad of Bihar and Palamu district of Jharkhand.

 

10. Manas – Sankosh – Tista – Ganga link (MSTG)

    The Manas-Sankosh-Teesta-Ganga (MSTG) link canal having a total length of 137 km long is an important link proposed in Himalayan component to transfer the surplus water of Brahmaputra river to the state of Assam, West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand and Odisha by giving a link with Ganga river ( Fig.13). This will further travelled west to link with the Peninsular component through Subernarekha and Mahanadi. A high dams with a storage capacity of 8.75 BCM and 4.93 BCM, respectively were also proposed in Manas and Sankosh river (Singh 2002). This link Canal will travel towards west and then south to join with Ganga river after crossing many majors rivers.

Fig.13. Manas – Sankosh – Tista – Ganga (MSTG) Link Canal

 

11. Jogighopa – Tista – Farakka link:

 

Jogighopa – Tista – Farakka Link Canal take off from proposed Johighopa barrage which will divert the deficient water from Brahmaputra through a gravity link canal and travel in the western and southern parts of the country to meet the water shortages (Fig.14). The proposed link canal has water dispute with China and Bangladesh. Therefore, it is examined by international team and concluded that the link was not feasible due to the major problem of the soils. The soils in the en route of the canal which is to be excavated were prone to liquefaction in earthquakes. The earthquakes in Assam in 1954 has the same reason.

 

 

Fig.14. Jogighopa – Tista – Farakka Link Canal

Fig.15. Satellite View of the Jogighopa – Tista – Farakka Link Canal

Source : SANDRP

 

12. Farakka – Sunderbans Link Canal:

    Farakka – Sunderbans link canal take off from Farakka barrage on Ganga river and travel for 394 km long to transfer about 9000 MCM of water at proposed Hasanabad weir in Sundarban (Fig.16). The diverted water from Ganga river will be utilise for activating moribund Jamuna and development of Kestopur Bhangarakata Khal .The water will further diverted to Hooghly river to improve the navigability of the Kolkata Port.

 

Fig.16. Farakka – Sunderbans Link Canal

 

13. Ganga – Damodar – Subarnarekha Link Canal :

 

The proposed link canal will takeoff from Farakka barrage on Ganga river and travelled towards southern part crossing many major rivers to join with the proposed Subarnarekha barrage on River Subarnarekha. The total length of the link canal is 394 km long. This will transfer about 28913 MCM. The proposed link canal will give irrigation benefit to lakhs hectare of land in West Bengal , Odisha and Jharkhand.

 

Fig.17. Farakka – Sunderbans Link Canal

 

14. Subernarekha – Mahanadi link:

 

Subernarekha – Mahanadi link canal will take off from proposed Subernarekha barrage in West Bengal to 21.20 MCM of surplus water from Brahmaputra river to Mahanadi river (Fig.18). The water will travel through Ganga-Damodar- Subarnerekha link which will give benefit to about 36,500 hectare of land in Odisha and West Bengal.

Fig.18. Farakka – Sunderbans Link Canal

 

Peninsular Components

 

The peninsular components is also known as southern Water Grid , which link Mahanadi, Godavari, Krishna, Pennar, and Kaveri rivers to provide irrigational benefits to the millions hectares of water deficit region.

 

It is further divided into four major parts :

 

1.     Interlinking of Mahanadi , Godavari , Krishna , Pennar , Kaveri and Vaigai.

2.     Inter – linking of Yamuna tributaries with the southern river

3.     Diversion of rivers flowing west in Karnataka and Kerala to the east.

4.     Inter- linking of small river by constructing a canal flowing in the west coast , north Mumbai and south Tapi.

 

The main objectives of linking peninsular rivers is to divert surplus water from Mahanadi and Godavari basins to the surplus basins of peninsular by inter- linking with canals. This link canal will serve the demand of power and irrigation for the domestic need in the en-route command area. But this interlinking will require to construct a numbers of big canals and large dam. It will also require lifting of water in some places which will involve huge financial and sound technical inputs. This inter-linking project will be one of the challenging and ambitious project.

 

Fig.19 : Peninsular River Components

 

Sixteen links canal were indentify in the Peninsular Component:

 

1. Mahanadi (Manibhadra) – Godavari (Dowlaiswaram) Link

 

This link canal required a construction of reservoir at Manibhadra on Mahanadi River and to the Dowlaiswaram barrage on the Godavari River. The 827.700 km long link canal is proposed to originate from the right side of the Manibhadra reservoir and falling it into many major rivers in Odisha and Andhar Pradesh i.e. Rushkulya , Vamsadhra , Nagavali rivers.This link canal will give a additional irrigation benefit to an-route command area of Nayagarh, Khurda, Ganjam and Gajapati districts of Odisha and Srikakulam, Vizianagaram, Visakhapatnam and East Godavari districts of Andhra Pradesh.

   

2. Godavari (Inchampalli) – Krishna (Nagarjunasagar) Link

 

Godavari – Krishna link canal is propose to transfer surplus water of Mahanadi and Godavari river basin to Krishna river basin. The 299.256 km long link canal including 9 km long tunnel originate from Inchampalli reservoir, falling into many major rivers (Akeru ,Palleru and Musi ) before merging with Nagarjunasagar reservoir vie Musi reservoir. The en-route of the canal mostly passes through agricultural fields , only about 35 kms passes through the dense forest in the starting.

 

Due to topographic obstacles, the link canal would be require to lift in four stages upto the height of 35, 38, 23 and 11 m respectively for which about 1,705 MW of power would be needed. The total diversion of water through this link canal is 16426 Mm3 and around 1664 Mm3 will be used in an en route for the irrigational , domestic and industries in Khammam, Warangal and Nalgonda districts of Andhra Pradesh and rest will be delivered to Nagarjunasagar reservoir in Krishna Rivers.

 

3. Godavari (Inchampalli) – Krishna (Pulichintala) Link

 

Godavari – Krishna link canal originate from the right side of the proposed Inchampalli dam with a length of 312.2 km crossing the ridge of Godavari and Krishna basins. The focus of the link canal is to divert 4370 Mm3 from Godavari River to the Krishna River. As the topography doesn’t permit the smooth gravity flow of the channel , around 12.50 km long tunnel is proposed and it also require to lift the water at different height of 106.68 m and 69.68 m respectively.

 

4. Godavari (Polavaram) – Krishna (Vijayawada) Link

 

The 174 km long link canal start from the right bank of Godavari at the proposed Polavaram reservoir with a carrying capacity of 5325 Mm3. The canal will fall into Budameru river before joining Krishna river at the existing Prakasan barrage at Vijayawada. This link canal will transfer 2265 Mm3of water for the Krishna delta as committed under the Godavari Water Dispute Tribunal (GWDT) award and 1564 Mm3 for en route irrigation , industrial, domestic requirement for merging with Krishna river.

 

5. Almatti – Pennar Link

 

The 587 km long canal linking Almatti with Pennar originate from right bank of Almatti dam in Krishna river , Karnataka. The canal will transfer of 1980 Mm3 of water from Almatti dam to join Maddileru, a tributary of the Pennar near the Malakavemula village in Andhra Pradesh. This link canal will give a additional irrigational beneficial to Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh .

 

6. Krishna (Srisailam) – Pennar Link

 

The main focus of the proposed Krishna (Srisailam) – Pennar link canal is to transfer additional surplus water from Mahanadi and Godavari rivers to the Pennar River through the natural streams of Nippulavagu, Galeru and Kunderu. The diversion of water begins at existing Srisailam reservoir and Srisailam Right Main Canal (SRMC) transferring of 2,310 Mm3 of water through Pothireddipadu head regulator and is proposed to link Nippulavagu stream through Banakacherla cross regulator before falling into Pennar river. The 204 km long canal is proposed to run 180 days in a year.

 

7. Krishna (Nagarjunasagar) – Pennar (Somasila) Link Canal

 

The proposed link canal having a total length of 393.02 km start from Nagarjunasagar reservoir in Krishna river. The link canal is designed to divert 12,146 Mm3 of water , out of it 3979 Mm3 diverted through NSRBC , 2356 Mm3 diverted to irrigate the command area of Nagarjunasagar RBC , 810 Mm3 will be utilized for en-route irrigation and remaining will merge with Pennar River at Somasila. The canal travels North – South parallel as a contour to the existing Nagarjunasagar Right Bank Canal (NSRBC) crossing many main rivers before falling into Somasila reservoir on the Pennar river. The canal will give a irrigation benefit to an area of  168017 hectare in Guntur, Nellore and Prakasam districts of Andhra Pradesh

 

8. Pennar (Somasila) – Cauvery (Grand Anicut) Link Canal

 

The 529.190 km long Pennar – Cauvery link canal run parallel to the existing Kandaleru Flood Flow Canal ( KFFC) upto 10 km till RD and then travel 80 km from Kandaleru – Poondi canal upto RD before travelling a distance of 439.190 km till Grand Anicut. The canal will divert of 8565 Mm3 of water from Somasila reservoir in Pennar , out of it, 3,170 Mm3 will be utilise for an en –route irrigation , 876 Mm3 of water will supply to Chennai city , 279 Mm3 will get benefit for the domestic and industrial requirement and 4240 Mm3 would transferred to Grand Anicut in Cauvery River. This will provide additional irrigation benefit to 4.91 lakh hectares in the state of Andhra Pradesh (Nellore, Chittoor districts) , Tamil Nadu (Tiruvallur, Kancheepuram, Vellore, Tiruvannamalai, Villupuram, Cuddalore, Perambalur and Tiruchchirappalli districts) and Pondicherry.

 

9. Cauvery (Kattalai Regulator) – Vaigai – Gundar Link Canal

 

Cauvery –Vaigai – Gundar link canal is proposed to transfer 2,252 Mm3 of water from Kattalai regulator from Cauvery river to the Vaigai River to provide additional irrigation facilities to 353,337 hectare annually in the districts of Karur, Tiruchchirappalli, Pudukkottai, Sivaganga, Ramanathapuram, Virudhunagar and Thoothukudi of Tamil Nadu state. This link canal will run parallel to an existing New Kattalai High Level Canal for 36 km upto RD and then travel for 219.60 km crossing many rivers basins of Tirumanimuttar, Ponnanaiar , Vaigai basin before falling into Gundar River.

 

10. Ken – Betwa Link

 

The proposed link canal is designed to transfer the surplus water of 1020 Mm3 from Ken river to the Betwa river. This water will also be utilised for en –route irrigation to the command area. A dam is proposed with a maximum height of 73.80 m at Daudhan on Ken river 2.5 km upstream of the existing Gangau weir. The net water availability considering all the upstream requirement at the dam site is 3,291 Mm3. As per the Interstate agreement of 1981 on river Ken , 2225Mm3 of water from ken river will divert to Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh (1375 Mm3 and 850 Mm3 ) .This link canal will provide addition irrigation benefit , domestic and industrial requirement to water deficit area of Madhya Pradesh (Raisen, Vidisha ,Chhatarpur & Tikamgarh districts) and Uttar Pradesh (Hamirpur & Jhansi districts) . The link canal after travelling 230 km towards eastern and crosses several rivers/streams before falling in Barwa Sagar reservoir in Parichha weir and then later merge with Betwa river through a natural stream in the upstream of Parichha weir.

 

11. Parbati – Kalisindh – Chambal Link

 

The main proposed of Parbati – Kalisindh – Chambal link canal is to divert surplus water of Parbati river, Newaj River and Kalisindh River to the Rana Pratap Sagar in Chambal river or to the Gandhi Sagar for providing additional irrigation benefit to the drought prone en – route command area of Upper Chambal sub-basin. Approximately 464 Mm³ of water from Patanpur dam on river Parbati will be diverted to Mohanpura diversion dam on river Newaj through a 55.37 km long link canal including a tunnel of 6.61 km. This will further divert 403 Mm3 of water to Kundaliya reservoir across river Kalisindh through a link canal of 73.17 km including two tunnels of 1.29 km and 3.1 km respectively at Mohanpura. Kundaliya dam having a storage capacity of 1234 Mm3 will again transfer of about 493 Mm3 of water from its own catchment . And the link canal is carried out in three stages :

 

(1)   By linking Rana Pratap Sagar Dam from Kundaliya : 115.08 km long length link canal with two tunnel having a length of 3.6 km and 5.96 km follow by a 105.52 km long gravity canal is proposed

 

(2)   By linking Gandhi Sagar Dam ([ Alt-(b)-I] : Pumping of water in three different stages is requires in this proposal i.e.( 368.35 m , 379.50 and 394 m). The total power required is 22.38 MW to pump the 19.74 km long canal with a lift of 50.15 m .

 

(3)   By linking Gandhi Sagar Dam [ Alt-(b)-II] : The proposed link canal has a total length of 73.29 km long. Pumping of water for 3.20 km is required with a lifting of water at the height of 47.42 m is required.

 

12.  Par – Tapi – Narmada Link Canal

 

The Proposed link canal of 210 km long and 5.5 km long tunnels originate from Paikhed weir. The main objective of the proposed link canal is to transfer surplus water from west flowing rivers of Par , Tapi , Auranga , Ambica and Purna to Saurashtra and Kutch in North Gujarat. This link canal require a construction of several dams as the canal will be passing through a dense forest of hilly region. And this will get benefit to many districts in Gujarat i.e. Valsad , Navsari , Dang , vadodara , Bharuch and Surat and Nasik district of Maharashtra for irrigation , industrial and domestic use.

 

13. Damanganga – Pinjal Link Canal

 

   The main proposed of the link canal is to transfer surplus water to the Greater Mumbai city for the domestic and industrial requirement in future. To link the canal , construction of reservoirs is proposed by NWDA and Government of Maharashtra. A dam in Bhugad of Nasik district on Damanganga river with a storage capacities of 400.00 M m3 is proposed which is further connected to the river Vagh at Khargihill in Thane district through a 16.85 km long pressure tunnels having a diameter of 5.0 m. The proposed dam in Vagh at Khargihill site have a storage capacities of 420.50 Mm3. A long tunnel of 25.70 km will connect Khargihill and Pinjal reservoirs. Pinjal dam having a storage capacities of 401.55 Mm3 on river Pinjal in Thane district is proposed by the Govt.of Maharashtra . the water will further transfer to Greater Mumbai.

 

14.  Bedti – Varada Link Canal :

 

The link canal envisages the diversion of surplus water from Bedti river to the Varada river. For the interlinking of the canal , two dams are proposed at the head of the canal i.e Pattanadahalla dam and Shalamalahalla dam with a storage capacities of 13.00 Mcum and 72.50 Mcum respectively . Therefore , for diverting the surplus water from Bedti Basin to the Varada river , the link canal is divided into two parts Pattanadahalla – Shalamalahalla reservoirs link and Shalamalahalla reservoir to Varada river. Inter linking of Pattanadahalla – Shalamalahalla reservoirs will envisages a construction of about 8.5 km long canal including 2.2 km long tunnel which will required a pumping of water upto 57.8 m height. And two link Shalamalahalla – Varada will consit of constructing 14.83 km long canal including 6.8 km long tunnel. This will required a lifting of water at two stages of 25.78 m and 40.12 m. The total electric power required for pumping the water at three is stages is estimated to be 61.10 MW. This link canal will be utilised in the en-route drought prone region of Karnataka (Raichur district).

 

15. Netravati – Hemavati Link canal

 

The proposed link canal envisages the diversion of water from Netravati basin to Cauvery basin to give a additional irrigation facilities to the en-route drought prone area of Karnataka (Tumkur, Hassan and Mandya districts) under the command of Hemavati Irrigation Project. The proposed interlinking consist of two stages. The first stage will link Yattinhole reservoir of Netravati basin to Hemavati river. This will required to lift the water upto the height of 19.50 m. And the under second stage , the canal will link Kerihole and Hongadhallad hole reservoirs of Netravati basin to Hemavati river of Cauvery basin. The water will be lifted to a height of 61.31 m. The total power required for pumping the water at two different stages is about 6 MW and the canal will travel for a total length of 11km long including 3 tunnels of 8.4 km long.

 

16. Pamba – Anchankovil – Vaippar Link Canal

 

The proposed link canal is designed to transfer 635 Mcum of water from the Pamba and Anchankovil basins of kerala to the drought prone region of vaippar basin in Tamil Nadu.

 

The canal is connected through two tunnels and three storage reservoirs . The surplus water from Punnamedu dam on river Pamba kal Ar in Pamba basin flow downstream through a 8 km long tunnel with a diameter of 5.0 m to Achankovil Kal Ar reservoir on the Achankovil Kal Ar River in the Achankovil river basin of Kerala state. The water is further supplies to the Vaippar basin through the 9 km long to cross the hilly terrain of western ghats in Tamil Nadu.The total length of 50.68 km long main canal will connect Alagar Odai (tributary of Vaippar river).

 

Issue and Problems

 

Inter-Linking of Rivers ( ILR) Project in India is challenging and complicated issues related to geo-politics , social, economic and ecological. The project has international and national dispute . It will have an impact on neighbouring countries like Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh. Bangladesh have already protest on the diversion of substantial amount of Brahmaputra water to the south west part of India to connect with Cauvery river. As it will change the ecosystem of the region making it into dry and drought prone area. Interstate dispute on water sharing is also one of the most important subject . The three main interstate dispute on water sharing are :

 

The Krishna-Godavari water dispute is between the state of Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh (AP), Madhya Pradesh (MP), and Odisha) and the issue on the utilization of surplus water.

 

The Cauvery water dispute is between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu on the re-sharing of waters .

 

The Ravi-Beas water dispute is between Punjab , Haryana and Rajasthan for the utilisation of water for irrigation benefit .

 

The basic concept for Inter-Linking of Rivers is to transfer surplus flood waters to the deficient and needed regions. But during the monsoon season , deficient rivers will not require the additional water. So construction of enormous reservoirs is needed. Which will required a huge financial . The maintenance of the huge assets and electric power generation for pumping the water to a different height will also involve huge financial burdens. And to envisages the project construction of dams , canals , tunnels is require which will affect the peoples and submerge the forest in an en-route command area. So , the Union ministry of environment and forests has already said no to the project. Because rehabilitation of the project affected region will be a major issues.

 

Advantage of Inter –Linking of River (ILR)

  1. Inter –linking of rivers will help deficient drought prone region to have water throughout the year .
  2. It will give additional irrigation benefit and create potential to increase production in agriculture sectors.
  3. Floods in the Ganga and Brahmaputra river basins will be controlled by transferring the surplus water to the deficient rivers of peninsular .
  4. Scarcity of water in southern India will be solve .
  5. Generation of new occupation
  6. Facilitation of Inland waterways through the large linking canals
  7. Large income generation

 

Disadvantage of Inter-Linking of Rivers ( ILR)

  1. Inter – linking of rivers will cause huge lost to the environment . The whole ecosystem will change due to the mass deforestation for the construction of the dams and canals.
  2. Resettlement of a people to the en-route command area is not an easy task.
  3. Practically the project will not last for a longer period due to the frequent changes in the river course .
  4. The amount of pollution in the river may increase as the flood flush the pollution down to the ocean but diversion will increase the amount of concentration in the rivers
  5. The amount of fresh water entering into the seas will reduced which will cause a major ecological disturbance in the marine ecosystem .
  6. Total cost of these projects is very huge that the government will have to depend on foreign sources which can fall in a dept trap.
  7. Political relation with the neighbouring countries may disturbed due to the water sharing dispute.

Alternatives to Indian River Linking

 

Conservation of Water Resources and Rainwater Harvesting Recharging Ground Water

 

Community Participation

 

you can view video on Inter Basin Water Transfer- Study of the Interlinking of River Projects, India.

 

References

  • Bhattacharya SK, Biswas AK, Rudra Dr Kalyan (editors), Interlinking of Rivers in India: Myths and Reality,Environmental Engineering Division, The Institution of Engineers (India), W Bengal State Centre, (8-9 Sept 2004), Kolkata 2004.
  • Bhattacharya, A.K. and Choudhury, S. “Interbasin Transfer of Water for Development of Arid Regions, proc. Of National Conference on “Hydraulics and Water Resources-HYDRO 2001” org. by Indian Society for Hydraulics and Central Water and Power Research Station, 6-7 Dec. 2001, Khadakwasla, Pune.
  • Central Water Commission, Sankosh: Feasibility Report, Govt of India, 1997.
  • Govt of Bihar, Report of Expert Committee on Impact of Interlinking of Rivers on Bihar, Dec 2003.
  • Govt of India, Integrated Water Resource Development: A Plan for Action Report of the National Commission for Integrated Water Resources Development, Ministry of Water Resources, New Delhi, Sept 1999.
  • Govt of India, Proceedings of the Eleventh National Water Convention (May 11, 2005), National Water Development Agency, Vol I and II, 2005
  • Hydrology and Water Resources Information System for India (http://nihroorkee.gov.in/rbis/rbis.htm)
  • IWRS (1996), “Interbasin Transfers of Water for National Development – Problems and prospects”, pub. by Indian Water Resources Society (IWRS) on the occasion of
  • Water Resources Day-1996, org. by IWRS, New Delhi “Major River Basins of India – an overview” pub. by Central Water Commission,Min. of Water Resources, Govt. of India, April 1989.
  • Nair. R and Radhakrishna. M.D, Interlinking of rivers for Mitigation of Droughts. In Volume I – Water for Life with Special Reference to Interlinking of Rivers. Proceedings of the Eleventh National Water Convention of India, May 11 2005, New Delhi: National Water Development Agency, 2005.
  • “National Water Policy”, Min. of Water Resources, Govt. of India, 1986
  • National Water Development Agency, Feasibility Reports of River Linking proposals for 14 links and other information, www.nwda.nic.in.
  • S.K. Sinha, A.K. Sinha and S. Chandra, Interlinking of Rivers- Issues and Challenges, In Volume I – Water for Life with Special Reference to Interlinking of Rivers, Proceedings of the Eleventh National Water Convention of India, New Delhi: National Water Development Agency, 2005
  • Singh SR, Shrivastava MP, River Interlinking in India: The Dream and Reality, Deep & Deep Publications Pvt Ltd, New Delhi, 2006.
  • The Hindu :October 21,2002. Water Resources Information System of India (http://india-wris.nrsc.gov.in)