Indian Rivers Interlink

Pls give me some more time...i will edit & given you more details about it!!...thanks for your support!!

1) Jalvardhini Pratishthan:-

 http://www.jalvardhini.org/ 

Jalvardhini Pratishthan is a 

registered Voluntary organization 

based at Mumbai, focusing on 

Rainwater Management, harvesting 

and specializing in low cost ............

their website : http://www.jalvardhini.org/

2) தேசிய நதி நீர் போக்குவரத்து திட்டம்:-

(Yes. And the project will generate employment for at least 5 to 7 crore families. After completion, several lakh people will be employed in maintenance of these canals.)

PM Modi ji must call and speak with this gentleman (Prof. Kamaraj) from Madurai. His plan of interlinking of rivers, will be welcomed by all parties involved because it takes out only flood waters (excess water) and diverts it to water less regions. This is a project worth implementing.

And Yes! This project will generate employment for at least 5 crore families while constructing. And after completion, several lakh people will be employed in maintenance of these canals.

Modi ji, this would be considered to be the most important landmark projects by any PM of this country.

Moreover, once the country sees the benefit of this system, no political party or outfit would ever try to break this country.

pls click the link given below:https://www.facebook.com/100004248311120/videos/540798062738466/

i) Indian Rivers Inter-link - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
---------------------------

Indian Rivers Inter-link

Via: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Rivers_Inter-link

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.^[1][2]

The Inter-link project has been split into three parts: a northern Himalayan rivers inter-link component, a southern Peninsular component and starting 2005, an intrastate rivers linking component.^[3] 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.^[3]

The average rainfall in India is about 4,000 billion cubic meters, but most of India's rainfall comes over a 4-month period – June through September. Furthermore, the rain across the nation is not uniform, the east and north gets most of the rain, while the west and south get less.^[4][5] India also sees years of excess monsoons and floods, followed by below average or late monsoons with droughts. This geographical and time variance in availability of natural water versus the year round demand for irrigation, drinking and industrial water creates a demand-supply gap, that has been worsening with India's rising population.^[5]

Proponents of the rivers inter-linking projects claim the answers to India's water problem is to conserve the abundant monsoon water bounty, store it in reservoirs, and deliver this water – using rivers inter-linking project – to areas and over times when water becomes scarce.^[4] Beyond water security, the project is also seen to offer potential benefits to transport infrastructure through navigation, as well as to broadening income sources in rural areas through fish farming. Opponents are concerned about knowledge gap on environmental, ecological, social displacement impacts as well as unseen and unknown risks associated with tinkering with nature.^[2] Others are concerned that some projects create international impact and the rights of nations such as Bangladesh must be respected and negotiated.^[6]

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

·         1History

·         2The need

·         3Plan

o    3.1Himalayan component

o    3.2Peninsular Component

o    3.3Intra-state inter-linking of rivers

·         4International comparisons

·         5Discussion

o    5.1Costs

o    5.2Ecological and environmental issues

o    5.3Displacement of people and fisheries profession

o    5.4Poverty and population issues

o    5.5International issues

o    5.6Political views

·         6Progress

·         7See also

·         8References

·         9External links

History[edit]

British colonial era

The Inter-linking of Rivers in India proposal has a long history. During the British colonial rule, for example, the 19th century engineer Arthur Cotton proposed the plan to interlink major Indian rivers in order to hasten import and export of goods from its colony in South Asia, as well as to address water shortages and droughts in southeastern India, now Andhra Pradesh and Orissa.^[7]

Post independence

In the 1970s, K.L. Rao,^[8] a former irrigation minister proposed "National Water Grid". He was concerned about the severe shortages of water in the South and repetitive flooding in the North every year. He suggested that the Brahmaputra and Ganga basins are water surplus areas, and central and south India as water deficit areas. He proposed that surplus water be diverted to areas of deficit. When Rao made the proposal, several inter-basin transfer projects had already been successfully implemented in India, and Rao suggested that the success be scaled up.^[8]

In 1980, India’s Ministry of Water Resources came out with a report entitled "National Perspectives for Water Resources Development". This report split the water development project in two parts – the Himalayan and Peninsular components. Congress Party came to power and it abandoned the plan. In 1982, India financed and set up a committee of nominated experts, through National Water Development Agency (NWDA)^[1] to complete detailed studies, surveys and investigations in respect of reservoirs, canals and all aspects of feasibility of inter-linking Peninsular rivers and related water resource management. NWDA has produced many reports over 30 years, from 1982 through 2013.^[1]However, the projects were not pursued.

The river inter-linking idea was revived in 1999, after a new political alliance formed the central government, but this time with a major strategic shift. The proposal was modified to intra-basin development as opposed to inter-basin water transfer.^[9]

21st century

Drought affected area farm lands in Karnataka.

By 2004, a different political alliance led by Congress Party was in power, and it resurrected its opposition to the project concept and plans. Social activists campaigned that the project may be disastrous in terms of cost, potential environmental and ecological damage, water table and unseen dangers inherent with tinkering with nature. The central government of India, from 2005 through 2013, instituted a number of committees, rejected a number of reports, and financed a series of feasibility and impact studies, each with changing environmental law and standards.^[9][10]

In February 2012, while disposing a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) lodged in the year 2002, Supreme Court (SC) refused to give any direction for implementation of Rivers Interlinking Project. SC stated that it involves policy decisions which are part of legislative competence of state and central governments. However, SC directed the Ministry of Water Resources to constitute an experts committee to pursue the matter with the governments as no party had pleaded against the implementation of Rivers Interlinking Project.^[11]

The need [edit]

Map showing rivers and flood prone areas in India

Drought, floods and shortage of drinking water

India receives about 4,000 cubic kilometers of rain annually, or about 1 million gallons of fresh water per person every year.^[2] However, the precipitation pattern in India varies dramatically across distance and over calendar months. Much of the precipitation in India, about 85%, is received during summer months through monsoons in the Himalayan catchments of the Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna (GBM) basin. The northeastern region of the country receives heavy precipitation, in comparison with the northwestern, western and southern parts. The uncertainty of start date of monsoons, sometimes marked by prolonged dry spells and fluctuations in seasonal and annual rainfall is a serious problem for the country.^[1] The nation sees cycles of drought years and flood years, with large parts of west and south experiencing more deficits and large variations, resulting in immense hardship particularly the poorest farmers and rural populations. Lack of irrigation water regionally leads to crop failures and farmer suicides. Despite abundant rains during July–September, some regions in other seasons see shortages of drinking water. Some years, the problem temporarily becomes too much rainfall, and weeks of havoc from floods.^[12] This excess-scarcity regional disparity and flood-drought cycles have created the need for water resources management. Rivers inter-linking is one proposal to address that need.^[1][2]

Population and food security

Population increase in India is the other driver of need for river inter-linking. India's population growth rate has been falling, but still continues to increase by about 10 to 15 million people every year. The resulting demand for food must be satisfied with higher yields and better crop security, both of which require adequate irrigation of about 140 million hectares of land.^[1] Currently, just a fraction of that land is irrigated, and most irrigation relies on monsoon. River inter-linking is claimed to be a possible means of assured and better irrigation for more farmers, and thus better food security for a growing population.^[1]

Navigation

India needs infrastructure for logistics and movement of freight. Using connected rivers as navigation is a cleaner, low carbon footprint form of transport infrastructure, particularly for ores and food grains.^[1]

Current reserves and loss in groundwater level

India's worsening water problem – satellite evidence of critical groundwater levels. The blue and purple regions have greatest levels of groundwater depletion. Courtesy – Goddard Space Flight Center, NASA, United States (2010).

India currently stores only 30 days of rainfall, while developed nations strategically store 900 days worth of water demand in arid areas river basins and reservoirs. India’s dam reservoirs store only 200 cubic meters per person. India also relies excessively on groundwater, which accounts for over 50 percent of irrigated area with 20 million tube wells installed. About 15 percent of India’s food is being produced using rapidly depleting groundwater. The end of the era of massive expansion in groundwater use is going to demand greater reliance on surface water supply systems. Proponents of the project suggest India's water situation is already critical, and it needs sustainable development and management of surface water and groundwater usage.^[13]

Plan[edit]

The National perspective plan envisions about 150 million acre feet (MAF) (185 billion cubic metres) of water storage along with building inter-links.^[14] These storages and the interlinks will add nearly 170 million acre feet of water for beneficial uses in India, enabling irrigation over an additional area of 35 million hectares, generation of 40,000 MW capacity hydro power, flood control and other benefits.

The total surface water available to India is nearly 1440 million acre feet (1776 billion cubic meters) of which only 220 million acre feet was being used in the year 1979. The rest is neither utilized nor managed, and it causes disastrous floods year after year. Up to 1979, India had built over 600 storage dams with an aggregate capacity of 171 billion cubic meters. These small storages hardly enable a seventh of the water available in the country to be utilized beneficially to its fullest potential.^[14] From India-wide perspective, at least 946 billion cubic meters of water flow annually could be utilized in India, power generation capacity added and perennial inland navigation could be provided. Also some benefits of flood control would be achieved. The project claims that the development of the rivers of the sub-continent, each state of India, as well as its international neighbors stand to gain by way of additional irrigation, hydro power generation, navigation and flood control.^[14] The project may also contribute to food security to the anticipated population peak of India.^[14]

The Ganga-Brahmaputra-Meghna is a major international drainage basin which carries more than 1,000 million acre feet out of total 1440 million acre feet in India. Water is a scarce commodity and several basins such as Cauvery, Yamuna, Sutlej, Ravi and other smaller inter-State/intra-State rivers are short of water. 99 districts of the country are classified as drought prone, an area of about 40 million hectare is prone to recurring floods.^[14] The inter-link project is expected to help reduce the scale of this suffering and associated losses.

The National Perspective Plan comprised, starting 1980s, of two main components:

1.   Himalayan Rivers Development, and

2.   Peninsular Rivers Development

An intrastate component was added in 2005.

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

Himalayan 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.^[14] Apart 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.^[14]

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 Kolkata.

By 2015, fourteen inter-links under consideration for Himalayan component are as follows, with feasibility study status identified:^[15][16]

·         Ghaghara–Yamuna link (Feasibility study complete)

·         Sarda–Yamuna link (Feasibility study complete)

·         Yamuna–Rajasthan link

·         Rajasthan–Sabarmati link

·         Kosi–Ghaghara link

·         Kosi–Mechi link

·         Manas–Sankosh–Tista–Ganga link

·         Jogighopa–Tista–Farakka link

·         Ganga–Damodar–Subernarekha link

·         Subernarekha–Mahanadi link

·         Farakka–Sunderbans link

·         Gandak–Ganga link

·         Chunar–Sone Barrage link

·         Sone dam–Southern tributaries of Ganga link

Peninsular Component[edit]

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 and

4.   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.^[14]

The main part of the project would send water from the eastern part of India to the south and west.^[14] The southern development project (Phase I) would consist of four main parts. First, the Mahanadi, Godavari. Krishna and Kaveri 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, theKen 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 theWestern Ghats, would be inter-linked for irrigation purposes to east flowing rivers such as Cauvery and Krishna.

The 800-km long Mahanadi-Godavari interlinking project would link River Sankosh originating from Bhutan to the Godavari in Andhra Pradesh through rivers like Teesta-Mahananda-Subarnarekha and Mahanadi.^[17]

The inter-links under consideration for Peninsular component are as follows, with respective status of feasibility studies:^[18][19]

·         Almatti–Pennar Link (Feasibility study complete)(Part I)

·         Bedti–Varada Link (Part IV)

·         Damanganga–Pinjal Link (Feasibility study complete) (Part II)

·         Inchampalli–Nagarjunasagar Link (Feasibility study complete) (Part I)

·         Inchampalli–Pulichintala Link (Feasibility study complete) (Part I)

·         Kattalai–Vaigai–Gundar Link (Feasibility study complete) (Part IV)

·         Ken–Betwa Link (Feasibility study complete) (Part III)

·         Mahanadi–Godavari Link (Feasibility study complete) (Part I)

·         Nagarjunasagar–Somasila Link (Feasibility study complete) (Part I)

·         Netravati–Hemavati Link (Part IV)

·         Pamba–Anchankovil–Vaippar Link (Feasibility study complete) (Part IV)

·         Par–Tapi–Narmada Link (Feasibility study complete) (Part II)

·         Parbati–Kalisindh–Chambal Link (Feasibility study complete) (Part III)

·         Polavaram–Vijayawada Link (Feasibility study complete) (Part I)

·         Somasila–Grand Anicut Link (Feasibility study complete) (Part I)

·         Srisailam–Pennar Link (Feasibility study complete) (Part I)

Intra-state inter-linking of rivers[edit]

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.^[20] The Governments of Nagaland, Meghalaya, Kerala, Punjab, Delhi, Sikkim, Haryana, Union Territories of Puducherry, Andaman & Nicobar islands, Daman & Diu and Lakshadweep responded that they have no intrastate river connecting proposals. Govt. of Puducherry proposed Pennaiyar – Sankarabarani link (even though it is not an intrastate project). 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.^[20] 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.^[21]

International comparisons[edit]

Comparative rivers inter-link

Rhine–Main–Danube Canal Illinois Waterway Tennessee–Tombigbee Waterway Gulf Intracoastal Waterway

The Indian Rivers Inter-link project is similar in scope and technical challenges as other major global river inter-link projects, such as:

1.   Rhine–Main–Danube Canal – completed in 1992, and also called the Europa Canal, it inter-links the Main river to the Danuberiver, thus connecting North Sea and Atlantic Ocean to the Black Sea. It provides a navigable artery between the Rhine delta at Rotterdam in the Netherlands to the Danube Delta in eastern Romania.^[22] It is 171 km long, has the summit altitude (between the Hilpoltstein and Bachhausen locks) is 406 m above sea level, the highest point on Earth reachable by ships from the sea. In 2010, the inter-link provided navigation for 5.2 million tonnes of goods, mostly food, agriculture, ores and fertilizers, reducing the need for 250,000 truck trips per year.^[23] The canal is also a source for irrigation, industrial water and power generation plants.^[24]

2.   Illinois Waterway system consists of 541 kilometers of interlink that connects a system of rivers, lakes, and canals to provide a shipping connection from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico via the Mississippi River. It provides a navigation route; primary cargoes are coal to powerplants, chemicals and petroleum upstream, and agriculture produce downstream primarily for export.^[25] The Illinois waterway is the principal source of industrial and municipal services water needs along its way; it serves the petroleum refining, pulp and paper processing, metal works, fermentation and distillation, and agricultural products industries.^[26]

3.   Tennessee–Tombigbee Waterway is a 377 kilometer man-made waterway that interlinks the Tennessee River to the Black Warrior-Tombigbee River in the United States.^[27] The Tennessee–Tombigbee Waterway links major coal producing regions to coal consuming regions, and serves as commercial navigation for coal and timber products. Industries that utilize these natural resources have found the Waterway to be their most cost-efficient mode of transportation.^[28] The water from the Tenn-Tom Waterway is a major source of industrial water supply, public drinking water supply, and irrigation along its way.^[29]

4.   Gulf Intracoastal Waterway, completed in 1949, interlinks 8 rivers, and is located along the Gulf Coast of the United States. It is a navigable inland waterway running approximately 1700 kilometers from Florida to Texas.^[30] It is the third busiest waterway in the United States, handling 70 million tonnes of cargo per year,^[31] and a major low cost, ecologically friendly and low carbon footprint way to import, export and transport raw materials and products for industrial, chemical and petrochemical industries in the United States.^[32] It has also become a significant source for fishing industry as well as for harvesting and shipping shellfish along the coast line of the United States.

Other completed rivers inter-linking projects include the Marne-Rhine Canal in France,^[33][34] and the All-American Canal and California State Water Project in the United States.^[35]

Discussion[edit]

Costs[edit]

The rivers inter-linking feasibility reports completed by 2013, suggest the following investment needs and potential economic impact:

[hide]Inter-link project	Length (km)	Estimated Cost in the year 2003 or earlier#	New irrigation capacity added (hectares)	Potential Electricity generation capacity	Drinking & Industrial water added (MCM)	Reference
Krishna–Pennar Link	587.2	₹6599.80 crore (US$980 million)	258,334	42.5 MW	56	[36]
Godavari–Krishna Link	299.3	₹26289 crore (US$3.9 billion)	287,305	70 MW	237	[37]
Parbati Kalisindh Chambal	243.7	₹6114.5 crore (US$910 million)	225,992	17 MW	89	[38]
Nagarjunasagar Somasila Link	393	₹6320.54 crore (US$940 million)	168,017	90 MW	124	[39]
Ken Betwa Link	231.5	₹1988.74 crore (US$300 million)	47,000	72 MW	2,225	[40]
Srisailam Pennar Link	203.6	₹1580 crore (US$230 million)	187,372	17 MW	49	[41]
Damanganga Pinjal Link	42.5	₹1278 crore (US$190 million)	-	-	44	[42]
Cauvery-Vaigai-Gundar Link	255.6	₹2673 crore (US$400 million)	337,717	-	185	[43]
Polavaram-Vijayawada Link	174	₹1483.91 crore (US$220 million)	314,718	72 MW	664	[44]
Mahanadi Godavari Link	827.7	₹17540.54 crore (US$2.6 billion)	363,959	70 MW	802	[45]
Par Tapi Narmada Link	395	₹6016 crore (US$890 million)	169,000	93 MW	91	[46]
Pamba Achankovil Vaippar Link	50.7	₹1397.91 crore (US$210 million)	91,400	500 MW	150	[47]

^#The cost conversion in US $ is at latest conversion price on the historical cost estimates in Indian rupees

Ecological and environmental issues[edit]

Some activists and scholars have, between 2002 and 2008, questioned the merits of Indian rivers inter-link projects, and questioned if appropriate study of benefits and risks to environment and ecology has been completed so far. Bandyopadhyay et al. claim there are knowledge gaps between the claimed benefits and potential threats from environment and ecological impact.^[2] They also question whether the inter-linking project will deliver the benefits of flood control. Vaidyanathan claimed, in 2003, that there are uncertainty and unknowns about operations, how much water will be shifted and when, whether this may cause waterlogging, salinisation and the resulting desertification in the command areas of these projects.^[48] Other scholars have asked whether there are other technologies to address the cycle of droughts and flood havocs, with less uncertainties about potential environmental and ecological impact.^[49]

Displacement of people and fisheries profession[edit]

Water storage and distributed reservoirs are likely to displace people – a rehabilitation process that has attracted concern of sociologists and political groups. Further, the inter-link would create a path for aquatic ecosystems to migrate from one river to another, which in turn may affect the livelihoods of people who rely on fishery as their income. Lakra et al., in their 2011 study, claim^[50] large dams, interbasin transfers and water withdrawal from rivers is likely to have negative as well as positive impacts on freshwater aquatic ecosystem. As regards to the impact on fish and aquatic biodiversity, there could be positive as well as negative impacts.

Poverty and population issues[edit]

India has a growing population, and large impoverished rural population that relies on monsoon-irrigated agriculture. Weather uncertainties, and potential climate change induced weather volatilities, raise concerns of social stability and impact of floods and droughts on rural poverty. The population of India is expected to grow further at a decelerating pace and stabilize around 1.5 billion by 2050, or another 300 million people – the size of United States – compared to the 2011 census. This will increase demand for reliable sources of food and improved agriculture yields – both of which, claims India's National Council of Applied Economic Research,^[4] require significantly improve irrigation network than the current state. The average rainfall in India is about 4,000 billion cubic metre, of which annual surface water flow in India is estimated at 1,869 billion cubic metre. Of this, for topological and other reasons, only about 690 billion cubic metre of the available surface water can be utilised for irrigation, industrial, drinking and ground water replenishment purposes. In other words, about 1,100 billion cubic metre of water is available, on average, every year for irrigation in India.^[4] This amount of water is adequate for irrigating 140 million hectares. As of 2007, about 60% of this potential was realized through irrigation network or natural flow of Indian rivers, lakes and adoption of pumps to pull ground water for irrigation.

80% of the water India receives through its annual rains and surface water flow, happens over a 4-month period – June through September.^[4][5] This spatial and time variance in availability of natural water versus year round demand for irrigation, drinking and industrial water creates a demand-supply gap, that only worsens with India's rising population. Proponents claim the answers to India's water problem is to conserve the abundant monsoon water bounty, store it in reservoirs, and use this water in areas which have occasional inadequate rainfall, or are known to be drought-prone or in those times of the year when water supplies become scarce.^[4][51]

International issues[edit]

Misra et al. in their 2007 report,^[6] claim inter-linking of rivers initially appears to be a costly proposition in ecological, geological, hydrological and economical terms, in the long run the net benefits coming from it will far outweigh these costs or losses. However, they suggest that there is a lack of an international legal framework for the projects India is proposing. In at least some inter-link projects, neighboring countries such as Bangladesh may be affected, and international concerns for the project must be negotiated.

Political views[edit]

BJP-led NDA government of Atal Bihari Vajpayee had mooted the idea of interlinking of rivers to deal with the problem of drought and floods afflicting different parts of the country at the same time.^[10]

The Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi said in 2009 that the entire idea of interlinking of rivers was dangerous and that he was opposed to interlinking of rivers as it would have "severe" environmental implications. BJP MP Rajiv Pratap Rudy suggested that Gandhi should do some research on the interlinking of rivers and its benefits and then arrive at a conclusion. Jairam Ramesh, a cabinet minister in former UPA government, said the idea of interlinking India's rivers was a "disaster", putting a question mark on the future of the ambitious project.^[52]

Karunanidhi, whose DMK has been a key ally of the Congress-led UPA at the Centre, wrote that linking rivers at the national level perhaps is the only permanent solution to the water scarcity problem in the country.” Karunanidhi said the government should make an assessment of the project’'s feasibility starting with the south-bound rivers. DMK for 2014 general elections added Nationalisation and inter-linking of rivers to its manifesto.

Kalpasar Project is an irrigation project which envisages storing Narmada River water in an off-shore fresh water reservoir located in Gulf of Khambhat sea for further pumping to arid Sourashtra region for irrigation use. It is one of the preferred project for implementation by the newly elected Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi.^[53]

Progress [edit]

On 16 September 2015, first linking was completed of rivers Krishna and Godavari.^[54]

References [edit]

1.    ^ Jump up to:^{a b c d e f g h} National Water Development Agency Ministry of Water Resources, Govt of India (2014)

2.    ^ Jump up to:^{a b c d e} Jayanta Bandyopadhyay and Shama Perveen (2003), The Interlinking of Indian Rivers: Some Questions on the Scientific, Economic and Environmental Dimensions of the Proposal IIM Calcutta, IISWBM, Kolkata

3.    ^ Jump up to:^a b "National water Development Agency (NWDA) Studies". Retrieved 29 August 2012.

4.    ^ Jump up to:^{a b c d e f} Suman Bery, Economic Impact of Interlinking of Rivers Programme NCAER, India

5.    ^ Jump up to:^a b c IWMI Research Report 83. "Spatial variation in water supply and demand across river basins of India" (PDF). Retrieved 23 August 2012.

6.    ^ Jump up to:^a b Misra et al., Proposed river-linking project of India: a boon or bane to nature, Environmental Geology, February 2007, Volume 51, Issue 8, pp 1361-1376

7.    Jump up^ Elizabeth Hope and William Digby, General Sir Arthur Cotton, R. E., K. C. S. I.: His Life and Work at Google Books

8.    ^ Jump up to:^a b A.K. Singh (2003), Interlinking of Rivers in India: A Preliminary Assessment, New Delhi

9.    ^ Jump up to:^a b Sharon Gourdji, Carrie Knowlton and Kobi Platt, Indian Inter-linking of Rivers: A Preliminary Evaluation M.S. Thesis, University of Michigan (May 2005)

10.  ^ Jump up to:^a b Koshy & Kanekal, SC revives NDA dream to interlink rivers LiveMint & The Wall Street Journal (28 February 2012)

11.  Jump up^ "Paras 62 to 64, WRIT PETITION (CIVIL) NO. 668 OF 2002", The Supreme Court of India, Civil Original Jurisdiction, Government of India (2002)

12.  Jump up^ "State wise flood damage statistics in India" (PDF). Retrieved 2013-01-04.

13.  Jump up^ "India’s water economy bracing for a turbulent future, World Bank report, 2006" (PDF). Retrieved 29 May 2014.

14.  ^ Jump up to:^{a b c d e f g h i} National perspectives for water resources development (accessdate 12 June 2014)

15.  Jump up^ Himalayan Component WRIS, Govt of India (Accessed: 27 November 2015)

16.  Jump up^ Himalayan Component Link Proposal NWDA, Govt of India (Accessed: June 2014)

17.  Jump up^ "Centre revises river linking project", The Times of India, 4 February 2016

18.  Jump up^ Summary of Link Proposal NWDA, Govt of India (Accessed: June 2014)

19.  Jump up^ Feasibility Studies – Peninsular components Govt of India

20.  ^ Jump up to:^a b National water Development Agency (NWDA) Studies Govt of India (Accessdate=9 June 2014)

21.  Jump up^ Intra – State river link proposals received from the State Governments NDWA, Government of India (2013)

22.  Jump up^ "Ein Traum wird Wirklichkeit" Die Fertigstellung des Main-Donau-Kanals (A Dream Becomes Reality: the Completion of the Main-Danube Canal), Siegfried Zelnhefer, July 1992

23.  Jump up^ http://www.wsd-sued.wsv.de/wir_fuer_sie/publikationen/pdf/verkehrsbericht_2010.pdf

24.  Jump up^ http://www.zaoerv.de/41_1981/41_1981_4_a_731_807.pdf

25.  Jump up^ United States Army Corps of Engineers. "Chapter 6. The Illinois Waterway". page 3. 3 June 2005.

26.  Jump up^ Water Chemistry of the Illinois Waterway State of Illinois, USA

27.  Jump up^ "Tenn-Tom Waterway Key Components" (2009), Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway Development Authority

28.  Jump up^ "Economic Impacts of the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway." 2009. Troy University.

29.  Jump up^ McKee and McAnally (2008), Water Budget of Tombigbee River – Tenn-Tom Waterway from Headwaters to Junction with Black Warrior River Mississippi State University, pp 11

30.  Jump up^ Lynn M. Alperin. "History of the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway" (PDF). U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Office of History. Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 December 2005.

31.  Jump up^ http://www.txdot.gov/inside-txdot/division/maritime/gulf-intracoastal-waterway.html

32.  Jump up^ Gulf Intracoastal Waterway Texas DOT, USA

33.  Jump up^ Jefferson, David (2009). Through the French Canals. Adlard Coles Nautical. p. 275.ISBN 978-1-4081-0381-4.

34.  Jump up^ McKnight, Hugh (2005). Cruising French Waterways, 4th Edition. Sheridan House.ISBN 978-1574092103.

35.  Jump up^ "History of the State Water Project". State Water Contractors. Archived from the original on 2013-10-16. Retrieved 2014-06-06.

36.  Jump up^ Krishna Pennar Link NDWA, Govt of India

37.  Jump up^ Godavari–Krishna Link NDWA, Govt of India

38.  Jump up^ Parbati Kalisindh Chambal Link NDWA, Govt of India

39.  Jump up^ Nagarjunasagar Somasila Link NDWA, Govt of India

40.  Jump up^ Ken Betwa Link NDWA, Govt of India

41.  Jump up^ Srisailam Pennar Link NDWA, Govt of India

42.  Jump up^ Damanganga Pinjal Link NDWA, Govt of India

43.  Jump up^ Cauvery-Vaigai-Gundar link NDWA, Govt of India

44.  Jump up^ Polavaram-Vijayawada link NDWA, Govt of India

45.  Jump up^ Mahanadi Godavari Link NDWA, Govt of India

46.  Jump up^ Par Tapi Narmada Link NDWA, Govt of India

47.  Jump up^ Pamba Achankovil Vaippar Link NDWA, Govt of India

48.  Jump up^ Vaidyanathan, (2003) ‘Interlinking of Rivers’ The Hindu, 26 March

49.  Jump up^ Monirul Qader Mirza et al., Interlinking of Rivers in India: Issues and Concerns, ISBN 978-0415404693, Taylor & Francis, page xi

50.  Jump up^ Lakra et al, River inter linking in India: status, issues, prospects and implications on aquatic ecosystems and freshwater fish diversity, Reviews in Fish Biology and Fisheries, September 2011, Volume 21, Issue 3, pp 463-479

51.  Jump up^ Monirul Qader Mirza et al., Interlinking of Rivers in India: Issues and Concerns, ISBN 978-0415404693, Taylor & Francis

52.  Jump up^ Interlinking of rivers buried, Jairam says idea a disaster Indian Express (6 October 2009)

53.  Jump up^ "Kalpasar to break ground in 2013". Retrieved 23 May 2014.

54.  Jump up^ Balachandran, Manu (21 September 2015), Why India’s $168 billion river-linking project is a disaster-in-waiting, Scroll.in

External links[edit]

·         Major and medium dams & barrages location map in India

·         The Guardian's Ravi S Jha writes on the project

·         BBC report on the Project

·         BBC Report on Bangladeshi objections

·         Economic Impact of Interlinking of Rivers Programme

·         National Water Development Agency official website, Ministry of Water Resources – Government of India

·         Anatomy of Interlinking Rivers in India: A Decision in Doubt, paper by A.C. Shukla and Vandana Asthana

·         அனைத்து மாநிலங்களும் வளம் பெற தேசிய அதி திறன் நீர்வழிச்சாலை வேண்டும்

·         தமிழக நதிகளை இணைத்தால் ஆண்டுக்கு ரூ.5,000 கோடி வருமானம்!

·         நீர்வழி திட்டத்திற்கு முன்னுரிமை கொடுப்போம்!

·         Dr. Abdul Kalam Article about Indian Rivers Inter-link

River linking

River Linking is 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.^[1]

Reasons and motivations[edit]

For an instance, in India the rainfall over the country is primarily orographic, associated with tropical depressions originating in the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal. The summer monsoon accounts for more than 85 per cent of the precipitation. The uncertainty of occurrence of rainfall marked by prolonged dry spells and fluctuations in seasonal and annual rainfall is a serious problem for the country. Large parts of Haryana, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu are not only in deficit in rainfall but also subject to large variations, resulting in frequent droughts and causing immense hardship to the population and enormous loss to the nation. The water availability even for drinking purposes becomes critical, particularly in the summer months as the rivers dry up and the ground water recedes. Regional variations in the rainfall lead to situations when some parts of the country do not have enough water even for raising a single crop. On the other hand excess rainfall occurring in some parts of the country create havoc due to floods.

Irrigation using river water and ground water has been the prime factor for raising the food grain production in India from a mere 50 million tonnes in the 1950s to more than 200 million tonnes at present, leading us to attain self-sufficiency in food. Irrigated area has increased from 22 million hectares to 95 million hectares during this period. The population of India, which is around 1000 million at present, is expected to increase to 1500 to 1800 million in the year 2050 and that would require about 450 million tonnes of food grains. For meeting this requirement, it would be necessary to increase irrigation potential to 160 million hectares for all crops by 2050. India's maximum irrigation potential that could be created through conventional sources has been assessed to be about 140 million hectares. For attaining a potential of 160 million hectares, other strategies shall have to be evolved.

Floods are a recurring feature, particularly by the Brahmaputra and Ganga rivers, in which almost 60 per cent of the river flows of our country occur. Flood damages, which were Rs. 52 crores in 1953, have gone up to Rs. 5,846 crores in 1998 with annual average being Rs. 1,343 crores affecting the States of Assam, Bihar, West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh along with untold human sufferings. On the other hand, large areas in the States of Rajasthan, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu face recurring droughts. As much as 85 percentage of drought prone area falls in these States. One of the most effective ways to increase the irrigation potential for increasing the food grain production, mitigating floods and droughts and reducing regional imbalance in the availability of water is the Inter Basin Water Transfer (IBWT) from the surplus rivers to deficit areas. Brahmaputra and Ganga particularly their northern tributaries, Mahanadi, Godavari and West Flowing Rivers originating from the Western Ghats are found to be surplus in water resources. If we can build storage reservoirs on these rivers and connect them to other parts of the country, regional imbalances could be reduced significantly and lot of benefits could be gained by way of additional irrigation, domestic and industrial water supply, hydropower generation, navigational facilities etc.

Benefits[edit]

Irrigation[edit]

By linking of rivers, vast amount of land areas which will not otherwise be irrigated and are unusable for agriculture become fertile.^[2]

Flood prevention[edit]

During heavy rainy seasons some areas can experience heavy floods while other areas might be experiencing drought like situations. With network of rivers this problem can be greatly avoided by channeling excess water to areas that are not experiencing a flood or are dry.

Generation of electricity[edit]

With new canals built, feasibility of new dams to generate hydroelectric power becomes a possibility.

Navigation[edit]

Newly created network of canals opens up new routes and ways and routes of water navigation, which is generally more efficient and cheaper compared to road transport.

National River Linking Project in India[edit]

Main article: Indian Rivers Inter-link

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.^[2]

Issues and Concerns[edit]

Ecological issues[edit]

One of the major concerns is that rivers change their course in 70–100 years and thus once they are linked, future change of course could create huge practical problems for the project.^[2]

Aqua life[edit]

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 offresh water inflows into the seas seriously jeopardizing aquatic life.^[2]

Deforestation[edit]

Creation of canals would need large areas of land resulting large scale deforestation in certain areas.^[2]

Areas getting submerged[edit]

Possibility of new dams comes with the threat of large otherwise habitable or reserved land getting submerged under water or surface water.^[2]

Displacement of people[edit]

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.

References[edit]

1.    Jump up^ http://www.nwda.gov.in/index2.asp?slid=3&sublinkid=3&langid=1

2.    ^ Jump up to:^{a b c d e f} Article at the-south-asian, additional text.

External links[edit]

·         http://nrlp.iwmi.org/main/maps.asp

·         http://www.rediff.com/news/2004/apr/29guest.htm

·         http://nrlp.iwmi.org/main/maps.asp

·         http://www.the-south-asian.com/Aug2004/River-linking.htm

                        --------------------------------------

River Krishna meets Godavari in first river linkage

DERABAD: With the formal launch of the Pattiseema lift irrigation scheme in Andhra Pradesh, India on Wednesday took a step forward in its ambitious but long-pending goal to interlink major rivers to form a national water grid. The Pattiseema project lifts flood water from the river Godavari and pumps it into the Polavaram right canal that empties into the river Krishna in Vijayawada.

The 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.

The Pattiseema (Polavaram) is one of the major projects envisaged under the national river linking project that aims to connect as many as 30 rivers including the Himalayan and the peninsular. Incidentally, Andhra Pradesh has become the only state with four of these rivers interconnected. The next in the pipeline under the national project is the interlinking of Ken (Madhya Pradesh) and Betwa (Uttar Pradesh) rivers. Though Ken-Betwa was touted to be the first river interlink project under the revised national scheme, AP chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu hurried through the Pattiseema scheme and completed it in record eight months.

2) How Andhra CM linked rivers, delinked netas?

via; http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/hyderabad/How-Andhra-CM-linked-rivers-delinked-netas/articleshow/48992918.cms

HYDERABAD: The Pattiseema project will bring huge dividends to water-starved farmers of the Krishna Delta, reason both the TDP and YSR Congress have been vying with each other to claim credit for it.

 

It argues that most of the work on the Pattiseema (Polavaram) canal was completed during late CM YS Rajasekhara Reddy's tenure. To claim sole credit, the TDP government removed the name 'Indira' from Polavaram Indira Sagar. It had to convince Godavari delta farmers that diversion of 80 tmc ft of water to the Krishna delta, India's rice bowl, won't impact their irrigation interests.
CM Chandrababu Naidu scored a political point when he said the 80 tmc ft water thus 'saved' from the Srisailam and Nagarjunasagar dams on the Krishna could be diverted to Rayalaseema's parched districts. Contrary to TDP's claim, Godavari and the Krishna have been 'interlinked' earlier. Andhra Pradesh, in fact, is south India's only state with all major rivers, Godavari, Krishna, Pennar and Tungabhadra, interlinked. Two of the three major linkages were carried out by the British. Almost 160 years ago Krishna was connected to Godavari albeit for navigation. Today's Pattiseema scheme is a pure irrigation one.

The Eluru canals from Godavari and Krishna meet at Malkapuram village to form part of the Kakinada-Pondicherry Buckingham canal.

The two Eluru canals also meet the Tammileru rivulet that drains into the Kolleru lake. More recently the Telugu Ganga Project that supplies drinking water to Chennai, connected Krishna with Pennar and with Kandaleru before reaching Chennai. Then, over 130 years ago river Tungabhadra was joined to Pennar via the Kurnool-Cuddapah (KC) canal.

The Pattiseema, however, is the first intra-state project that's seen completion under the revised national river linking project. The mega project meets Krishna delta's irrigation needs and brings large volumes of Godavari's waters into river Krishna, upstream of Vijayawada's Prakasam Barrage.
………….
TDP claims it completed the 174-km-long project that'll fetch flood water from Godavari to Krishna, YSR Congress alleges Naidu's government squandered public money and simply changed the project's name.

 

 

India: What are the benefits of linking all the national rivers in India?

Conservation of Ground water :
In India, half of the area of irrigation is utilized with ground water with more than 20 million tube wells. Surface water conservation management is improper as we have lost many lakes and rivers. It is estimated that our country saves 30 days of rain out of 120 days during south-west monsoon (25% of rainfall from other monsoons too included) we receive every year.
65% of irrigated water is used from ground water resource and using this much water we are irrigating only 35%  of total area of irrigation of about 160 million hectares. Ground water is an important resource in India, but the annual decline of water table is more than 4 meters all over the country.
Inter-linking of rivers leads to increase in the amount of surface water resources and eradicates the usage of ground water for irrigation. Increase in surface water resources leads to increase in the arable area.

Crop productivity and Food security:
About 15% of ground water is used for food production every year in our country. Since a small amount of land is irrigated, by interlinking of rivers and increase in irrigation, crop production is improved and food security can be assured. In order to feed the growing population it is estimated that by 2030 the demand for food may increase double the value of 1200 billion cubic meters of water utilization which is not possible with the present already depleted ground water resources

Health: 
Due to boring holes for ground water under large depths, the water extracted displayed high levels of arsenic, fluoride and other hazardous chemicals. In coastal areas, chances are obvious that contamination of saline water into the fresh ground water. Interlinking of surface water has no or little effects of health due to chemicals.

Employment:
In the scenario of inter-linking of rivers, it leads to the fullest utilization of irrigation infrastructure available in India which in turn leads to more utilization of human resource and divert many of the jobless youth towards agriculture - the back bone of India.

Waterways - the cost efficient mode of transportation:
If we are using water as a mode of transport, loads of materials can transported in comparison with the truck or roadway transportation. 
We can save our Express ways and national highways from depreciation for years and instead of focusing on maintaining the roads, we can shift our focus towards development of rural and suburban roads and border roads development. Moreover increased use of waterways improves resource movement in addition to road and air freight movement in turn helps in our overall economical growth.

Eradication of famine and prevention of flood:
Since north and east areas receives bulk water through rain and floods, inter-linking leads to better management of water resources and bulk amounts of water can be first distributed to the non irrigated areas of north and east and then diverting the surplus water to south for irrigation, production and drinking.

Apart from all these benefits, inter-linking of national rivers has lot of drawbacks and discussing here is beyond the scope of the asked question.

However, considering all the demerits and the demand for water, as a civil engineer, i would rather go for self sustainable method. Since we are receiving 4000 cubic kilometers of rain annually and our dams have the capacity to hold only 200 cubic meters per person, i will go for increasing the dam reservoir infrastructure state by state in order to avoid wastage of rain water and utilized water without recycling.
In peninsular India, reports says that around 7000 TMC of water is merely wasted. (4000 TMC -Andhra, 2000 TMC - Karnataka, 1000 TMC - Kerala)- reported by NWDA in 1999.
These total 7000 TMC is more than enough to solve the water and energy problems in the southern states.

Developed countries are strategically saving 900 days of rain water. We can rather increase the rain water storage,  if the inter-linking of rivers takes time to start its progress. Rain water harvesting awareness was created in Thamizh Nadu and all the people were advised to install rain water harvesting systems in their homes. But this method didn't shown much progress. Proper drainage systems and waste water management and conservation of rivers and lakes is the best solution to avoid water scarcity and unnecessary implementation of inter-linking of rivers by wasting 5,00,000 crores or more and bearing its demerits and opposition from some of the surplus water owner states due to their doubts in chances of their water resources getting depleted in future.

The Benefits of linking all the national rivers in India are as follows:

First, Lets us understand what is Canal Link :
•A Canal is a long, man-made strip of water used for irrigation or boat access to a bigger body of water, like Rivers, Dams, Lake etc.
•A Canal Link is link which helps to connect two or more bigger water bodies by which water can be transported for purposes like irrigation, drinking, storage etc.

And now the benefits of linking all the national rivers in India :

•Irrigation - By linking of rivers, vast amount of land areas will be irrigated and land will become fertile.
•Flood Prevention - During heavy rainy seasons some areas can experience heavy floods while other areas might be experiencing drought like situations. With network of rivers this problem can be greatly avoided by channeling excess water to areas that are not experiencing a flood or are dry.
•Generation of Electricity - With new canals built, feasibility of new dams to generate hydroelectric power becomes a possibility.
•Navigation - Newly created network of canals opens up new routes and ways and routes of water navigation, which is generally more efficient and cheaper compared to road transport.

Sangeeta Mahala

I will list both the benefits and problems associated with linking all the national rivers of India.
Benefits:

1.       Water shortage problems in southern rivers will be solved

2.      More irrigation facilities to farmers

3.      More employment opportunities for the people whose livelihood depends on fisheries, etc

4.      Due to increased irrigation, agricultural productivity will increase, thus contributing to economic growth of the country

5.      More infrastructure will be created like canals, dams, hydro power projects

Problems:It will destroy the ecology of the rivers and the areas in which these linking projects will be created. No ecologist or environmentalist will ever support such a project. Negative impacts on the environment and ecology of an area will be seen for generations to come.

1.       It is very costly project, economically. Himalayan and Peninsular river systems are separated by mountains in between like Vindhyas, Satpuras etc, so to transfer water from northern rivers to southern rivers will require either tunneling or pumping the water over the mountains. This will make the river linking project extremely costly.

2.      Such projects will displace large number of people. Rehabilitation and resettlement of these people is not going to be an easy task (We have not been able to do so in small hydro projects).

So ,in my opinion, the problems and disadvantages outweigh the benefits. It is not an advisable projects. Instead of doing this, we can find other solutions to our water problems like water conservation, increasing irrigation efficiency of agriculture, recycling and reusing the water, more R&D investments in these areas for technological advancement.

Demand and supply: 
Higher amount of water -> floods, destruction of property, death
Low amount of water -> drought, famine, death

Link these 2 together and voila! Problem solved!

Practical feasibility/implementability -> Close to nil

It will help India get rid of the perrenial problem of draught and floods. These 2 problems in one or the other part of the country affects India's economic progress.

But it also has some disadvantages as it will require a large scale destruction of riverside ecosystem, to build such infrastructure.

If ever any such project materializes, it will be a giant project and one of its kind achievement for India. Definitely, it would need large sum of investment required for building various infrastructures from government side.

Talking about the effect of having such a network of interconnected rivers. One can easily imagine the sheer effect on agriculture in our country.

There is no certainty with respect to arrival of monsoon as well as distribution of rainwater across the country.

Every year we hear about farmers getting affected by flooding of rivers in one part of country whereas a different land owner gets bankrupt due to insufficient rains causing drought.

Having such a river network will help in:-

1. Sharing of surplus river water in perennial rivers with rivers which only flow post monsoon.

2. Preventing droughts and floods both caused due to insufficient or excessive rains.

3. Saving life of many farmers as they will not commit suicide.

4. Imports of many food items will go down. Exports will see increment. Annual fiscal  Deficit will go down.

Thanks for A2A.

5. There will be many other cascading effects on the economy of the country leading to prosperity.

Related Questions

·         What has the Modi government done regarding the inter-linking of rivers project in India?

·         What do you think about inter-linking of rivers in India?

·         Is it technically possible and economically feasible to link all the rivers in India? How can we bring the waters through Vindhya?

·         Can all rivers of India be linked to tackle floods and droughts?

·         Are there any clean rivers in India?

·         How can I, as an Indian, convince my Burmese friends that Burma reuniting with India will be of immense benefit to both nations?

·         What is stopping us from having a 'National Water Grid' in India to connect all the major rivers to the draught areas?

·         How does Russia benefit from India's friendship?

·         What can be the merits and demerits of linking of rivers in india?

·         Is regionalism emerging above nationalism in India?

·         Are river linking projects are feasible in India?

·         Which are the cleanest and dirtiest rivers in India?

·         Should India remain a secular nation?

·         What are the Major rivers & hill ranges in national parks & sanctuary of India?

·         What are the benefits of FTA (free trade agreement) in services and investment between India and ASEAN nations?             

Via: http://nrlp.iwmi.org/main/maps.asp

Strategic Analysis of India's  National River-Linking Project.  

Peninsular Component	Himalayan Component
Click on above numbers or below links for more details.	Click on above numbers or below links for more details.
1.   Mahanadi - Godavari Link 2.   Inchampalli - Nagarjunasagar Link 3.   Inchampalli - Pulichintala Link 4.   Polavaram - Vijayawada Link 5.   Almatti - Pennar Link 6.   Srisailam - Pennar Link 7.   Nagarjunasagar - Somasila Link 8.   Somasila - Grand Anicut Link 9.   Kattalai – Vaigai - Gundar Link 10.                Ken - Betwa Link 11.                Parbati - Kalisindh - Chambal Link 12.                Par - Tapi - Narmada Link 13.                Damanganga - Pinjal Link 14.                Bedti - Varada Link 15.                Netravati - Hemavati Link 16.                Pamba – Anchankovil - Vaippar Link	1.   Kosi - Mechi link 2.   Kosi - Ghaghara link 3.   Gandak - Ganga link 4.   Ghaghara - Yamuna link 5.   Sarda - Yamuna link 6.   Yamuna - Rajasthan link 7.   Rajasthan - Sabarmati link 8.   Chunar - Sone Barrage link 9.   Sone dam - Southern tributaries of Ganga link 10.                Manas - Sankosh - Tista - Ganga link 11.                Jogighopa - Tista - Farakka link 12.                Farakka - Sunderbans link 13.                Ganga - Damodar - Subernarekha link 14.                Subernarekha - Mahanadi link

National River Linking Project: Dream or disaster?

he Project is back in the news now but how much do you know about it? We cover the basics including its history, aim, costs and impact on the environment and people in this comprehensive piece.

60

Interlinking of rivers (Source: NIH)

The National River Linking Project (NRLP) formally known as the National Perspective Plan, envisages the transfer of water from water ‘surplus’ basins where there is flooding to water ‘deficit’ basins where there is drought/scarcity, through inter-basin water transfer projects.

Digging further into the term 'surplus' as per the Government, states that it is the extra water available in a river after it meets the humans’ requirement of irrigation, domestic consumption and industries thereby underestimating the need of the water for the river itself. The term 'deficit' has also been viewed in terms of humans only and not from the river's perspective, which includes many other factors.

But before we get deeper into the subject in terms of feasibility and so on, let's first understand the aim, benefits claimed, cost and history of the project.

History behind river interlinking

While the timeline has the history since the project's conception 125 years ago, our focus is on the most recent event which brought it back into the limelight.

In 2002, the then President of India Abdul Kalam mentioned the river linking project during a speech. He proposed it as a solution to India's water woes after which an application requesting an order from the Supreme Court on that matter was submitted. The application was converted into a writ petition and finally, in October 2002, the Supreme Court ordered the Central Government to initiate work on inter-linking the major rivers of the country.

In the same year, a task force was appointed and a deadline of 2016 was set to complete the entire project that would link 37 rivers but nothing concrete happened until almost a decade ago. On Feb 27, 2012, the Supreme Court ordered the constitution of a “Special Committee for Interlinking of Rivers” headed by the Minister of Water Resources.

Now here arises the question of judicial intervention. Ramaswamy R Iyer in his paper says that the accountable body to deal with such matters is Parliament and not the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court's responsibility is to ensure that the fundamental rights of citizens should not be denied, but as to how the fundamental rights will be ensured to the person is not in its ambit.

The UPA Government was not in favour of the interlinking project, but with the coming of the NDA Government, river linking is once again in the limelight. Budget 2014-15 has earmarked Rs. 100 crore to expedite the preparation of Detailed Project Reports for this purpose.

Scope of the Project

The National River Interlinking Project will comprise of 30 links to connect 37 rivers across the nation through a network of nearly 3000 storage dams to form a gigantic South Asian Water Grid. It includes two components: 

Projects in the Himalayan component (Source: National Water Development Agency)

• Himalayan Rivers Development Component under which 14 links have been identified. This component aims to construct storage reservoirs on the Ganga and Brahmaputra rivers, as well as their tributaries in India and Nepal. The aim is to conserve monsoon flows for irrigation and hydropower generation, along with flood control. The linkage will transfer surplus flows of the Kosi, Gandak and Ghagra to the west. A link between the Ganga and Yamuna is also proposed to transfer the surplus water to drought-prone areas of Haryana, Rajasthan and Gujarat. 

·     

Projects in the peninsular component (Source: National Water Development Agency)

Peninsular Rivers Development Component or the Southern Water Grid, which includes 16 links that propose to connect the rivers of South India. It envisages linking the Mahanadi and Godavari to feed the Krishna, Pennar, Cauvery, and Vaigai rivers. This linkage will require several large dams and major canals to be constructed. Besides this, the Ken river will also be linked to the Betwa, Parbati, Kalisindh, and Chambal rivers.

Proposed benefits of the Project

• Hydropower generation

The river interlinking project claims to generate total power of 34,000 MW (34 GW). Out of this, 4,000 MW will come from the peninsular component while 30,000 MW from the Himalayan component. It's hard to picture 34,000 MW of power, isn't it? Imagine 34 Tehri dam-kind of hydropower projects and there you have it! Now let's give it some perspective in terms of other costs. A single Tehri dam, which has the capacity of 1000 MW was developed at the cost of total submergence of Tehri town and 40 villages and partial submergence of 72 other villages affecting the lives of more than 100,000 people! 

The addition of hydropower is expected to curb the drinking water woes of millions and supply water to industries in drought-prone and water-scarce cities in south and west India but do we need such a big project to end our water woes?

Hirakud Dam in Odisha

Not according to Parineeta Dandekar, who works with South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers & People (SANDRP). "There are a number of cheaper, socially and environmentally-benign options available to us, which can result in even larger benefits than a grand project. These include increasing irrigation and project-specific efficiency, rational cropping patterns, putting to use our existing mega infrastructure which is under-performing, using water equitably, harvesting rainwater and managing demand better, among others."

"In many places across India, such initiatives have shown their positive potential while larger scale projects have failed miserably. Best example is Maharashtra, which has the country's largest concentration of large dams and the least irrigation potential. When this is known, how can we ignore these aspects and still hanker after large dams and schemes based on such infrastructure like Interlinking? Doing so is irresponsible and foolishly optimistic, without understanding our reality", she adds. 

• Irrigation benefits

Irrigated fields of Tamil Nadu

The project claims to provide additional irrigation to 35 million hectares (m ha) in the water-scarce western and peninsular regions, which includes 25 m ha through surface irrigation and 10 m ha through groundwater. This will further create employment, boost crop outputs and farm incomes and multiply benefits through backward (farm equipment and input supplies) and forward linkages (agro-processing industries). Along with this the project is expected to create several benefits for navigation and fisheries.

But do we need to add to our irrigation potential through such a huge project? 

The answer is perhaps a no! There could be many viable options including rainwater harvesting and groundwater recharge at the community level that could increase the irrigation potential of the nation.

Cost of the Project

The total cost of implementation is Rs. 560,000 crore at 2002 price levels with an annual outlay of Rs. 16,000 crore over 35 years. This cost consists of three components which are Rs.106,000 crore for the peninsular component, Rs.185,000 crore for the Himalayan component and Rs. 269,000 crore for the hydroelectric component. In terms of usage, the cost is estimated as Rs. 135,000 crore for the power component and Rs. 425,000 crore for irrigation and water supply. 

Again to put this collosal amount in some understandable proportion, we can contrast it to the Tehri Dam, which cost Rs. 8000 crore.  

Cost component of the National River Linking Project

Proposed interlinking projects and their status?

The proposed interlinking projects and their status is given in the map below. A document detailing the current status is also attached for further reference. 

Proposed interlinking projects (Source: National Institute Hydrology)

Out of all the interlinking projects, the Ken-Betwa river link has been approved and the Government is now keen to approve the Daman Ganga-Pinjal Link (Gujarat and Maharashtra) and Par-Tapi-Narmada Link (Gujarat) whosedetailed project reports (DPRs) are ready for consideration. 

Perceived impact of the Project

"Disaster", is what Himanshu Thakkar from SANDRP and Shripad Dharmadhikary from the Manthan Adhyayan Kendra say when asked about the interlinking project. Experts also refute the core basis of the project, which terms the river either 'surplus' or 'deficit'.

The Ken-Betwa river link (Source: Shannon)

In the words of Ashish Kothari from Kalpavriksh, a non-profit organisation that works on environmental and social issues, "The proposal is based on the serious ecological myth that river waters which drain into the sea, are going ‘waste’. When rivers wind through forested, cultivated, and settled lands, they carry with them large amounts of silt. This silt is deposited along the way, enhancing the productivity of the surrounding lands, and finally of the coastal waters. This is the basis of the rich agriculture of the plains of India, and of the rich fisheries off our coasts. The river also pushes out the sea, which would otherwise invade deep into the land, and erode the coast."

Himanshu Thakkar says, "There is no scientific basis to arrive at the conclusion that any river basin is surplus or deficit, since we have not done full assessment or implementation of options in any river basin or even a sub basin". 

The project could also create many water conflicts both at the state and international level. The country is already reeling due to many inter-state water conflicts like the Ravi-Beas Water Dispute between Punjab-Haryana-Rajasthan and the Cauvery Water Dispute between Kerala-Karnataka-Tamil Nadu-Puduchery to name a couple. At the international level also, India is at crossroads with Pakistan over the sharing of the Indus' water, with Bangladesh over the Teesta's water, with China over the Brahmaputra's water and with Nepal over the Mahakali's water.

In such a scenario, does India really have the capacity to take up a few or rather many more water conflicts arising over the riparian rights from the countries like Pakistan and Bangladesh, that are in the downstream?

The project envisages the building of many dams, canals and tunnels with some of them having high lifts upto 120 m. This will lead to a huge social and environmental cost. The recent example is the proposed Ken-Betwa link, which has been approved by the Government. The project puts in danger over 4,100 hectares of forest land or 8% of the Panna National Park. Although the project needs environment clearance, wildlife clearance and Supreme Court permission since it involves the diversion of land within a protected area of the tiger reserve, the Water Ministry has sought none.

Thus, if a single project of interlinking could accrue such an environmental cost, then one can only imagine how it will impact the country's biodiversity if all the 30 links are implemented.

Along with the ecological cost, the project will also bring a great human cost in terms of those displaced by it. "No estimates exist of the number of people who will be so affected by the river linking project, but it would surely run into hundreds of thousands…and which state or central government has shown the ability to properly rehabilitate such people? Where, in any case, is the land available to resettle them…other than on forests, pastures, and wetlands?", says Ashish Kothari.

The Government has also ignored the dynamics of the river while planning the project. Every river has its own quality so will the mixing of water not affect the particular quality of the river, or to say when most of the rivers in the country are polluted, will this not cause mixing of a less polluted river with a more polluted one? 

In conclusion, the interlinking of rivers is presumed to be a total disaster for the nation. The Government has formulated such a huge project while ignoring the alternatives such as decentralised watershed development, rainwater harvesting, groundwater recharge, reviving the existing local sytems of water harvesting and irrigation.   

The presentation is the contribution of Shripad Dharmadhikary from the Manthan Adhyayan Kendra. Shripad would like to thank UNESCO-IHE for the use of a few slides.

-------------------

கோதாவரியும் கிருஷ்ணாவும் இணையும்போது 

காவிரியும் வைகையும் இணையாதா?

ஆந்திராவில் பாயும் கோதாவரியையும் கிருஷ்ணாவையும் குறுகிய காலத்தில் இணைத்து, ''முடியவே முடியாது'' என்று கருதப்பட்ட நதிநீர் இணைப்பை சாத்தியமாக்கி உள்ளார் ஆந்திர முதல்வர் சந்திரபாபு நாயுடு. இதைப் பார்த்தாவது, தமிழகத்திலும் அதுபோன்ற திட்டத்தை நமது ஆட்சியாளர்கள் செயல்படுத்த வேண்டும் என்ற எதிர்பார்ப்பு ஏற்பட்டுள்ளது.

படுவேக திட்டம்: ஆந்திராவில் வறட்சியில் வாடும் ராயலசீமா பகுதியை வளமாக்கும் நோக்கத்தில், தென்னிந்தியாவில் பெரிய நதியான கோதாவரியையும் கிருஷ்ணாவையும் இணைக்க சந்திரபாபு திட்டமிட்டார். ஆண்டுதோறும் கோதாவரியில் இருந்து கடலில் கலந்து வீணாகும் 3000 டிஎம்சி தண்ணீரை பயன்படுத்த நினைத்தார். 

1950ம் ஆண்டே இது திட்டமிடப்பட்டிருந்தாலும் இடையில் யாரும் இத்திட்டத்தை செயல்படுத்தவில்லை. 

ஆனால் இதை செயல்படுத்த நினைத்தார் சந்திரபாபு. இத்தனைக்கும் சென்ற ஆண்டு மார்ச் மாதத்தில் தான் இதற்கான அடிக்கல்லை நாட்டினார். இதற்கு ஒதுக்கப்பட்ட தொகை 1300 கோடி ரூபாய் மட்டுமே.

உண்மையான அர்ப்பணிப்புடன் பணி நடந்ததால், 174 கி.மீ., நீளத்திற்கு தோண்டப்பட்ட கால்வாய் மூலம் ஆறுகள் இணைக்கப்பட்டு, சென்ற 1ம் தேதி முதல் கால்வாயில் தண்ணீர் பாய்கிறது. இதன்மூலம் புதிதாக 17 லட்சம் ஏக்கர் பாசன வசதி பெறப்போகிறது. 

தமிழகம் போன்ற தண்ணீருக்காக ஏங்கும் மாநில மக்களுக்கு நினைத்தாலே மெய்சிலிர்க்க வைக்கும் திட்டம் இது. 

தமிழகத்தில் எப்போது?: தமிழகத்தில் காவிரி - வைகை - குண்டாறு இணைப்புத் திட்டம் பல ஆண்டுகளாக கிடப்பில் போடப்பட்டுள்ளது. கோதாவரி - கிருஷ்ணா போல அதிக செலவு பிடிக்கும் திட்டமும் இது இல்லை. ஆனால் இதைக் கூட நமது அரசியல்வாதிகளும் ஆட்சியாளர்களும் நிறைவேற்றாமல் ஏமாற்றுவது வேதனை அளிக்கிறது.

இதற்கு காரணம், எந்த அரசியல்வாதிக்கும் உண்மையான அர்ப்பணிப்பு உணர்வு கிடையாது. மக்கள் முன்னேற்றத்தில் அக்கறை கிடையாது என்பது தான். என்று தான், இதுபோன்ற திட்டங்கள் இங்கு நிறைவேற்றப்படுமோ என்ற ஏக்கத்தைத் தான் இது ஏற்படுத்துகிறது.

you may like some of the other useful links:

தேசிய நதிநீர் இணைப்புத் திட்டம் 

http://www.dinamalar.com/splpart_main.asp?cat=1190

http://ta.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%AE%A4%E0%AF%87%E0%AE%9A%E0%AE%BF%E0%AE%AF_%E0%AE%A8%E0%AE%A4%E0%AE%BF%E0%AE%A8%E0%AF%80%E0%AE%B0%E0%AF%8D_%E0%AE%87%E0%AE%A3%E0%AF%88%E0%AE%AA%E0%AF%8D%E0%AE%AA%E0%AF%81%E0%AE%A4%E0%AF%8D_%E0%AE%A4%E0%AE%BF%E0%AE%9F%E0%AF%8D%E0%AE%9F%E0%AE%AE%E0%AF%8D


---------------------------------------
Feb 10th 2016

நாட்டில் உள்ள நதிகளை இணைத்தால், எப்பகுதியிலும் வறட்சி என்பதே இருக்காது என்ற உண்மை அனைவருக்கும் தெரிந்திருந்தும், அதுகுறித்த நடவடிக்கைகள் நீண்ட காலமாக வெறும் பேச்சளவிலேயே இருந்து வருகின்றன. இதனிடையே , மகாராஷ்டிரா மாநிலம், நதிநீர் இணைப்பு திட்டத்திற்கு பிள்ளையார் சுழி போட தீர்மானித்துள்ளது. மகாராஷ்டிரா மாநிலத்தில் உள்ள நர் -பர்-தபி-நர்மதா நதிகளை இணைக்கும்பொருட்டு, மகாராஷ்டிரா மாநில நீர்வளத்துறை அமைச்சர் கிரிஷ் மகாஜன், மத்திய நீர்வளத்துறை அமைச்சர் உமா பாரதி உள்ளிட்ட அதிகாரிகளை சந்தித்துப்பேச உள்ளார். இந்த நதிகள் இணைப்பின் மூலம், மகாராஷ்டிரா மட்டுமல்லாது, குஜராத் மாநிலமும் பயனடையும் என்றும் தெரிவிக்கப்பட்டுள்ளது.