interlinking of river

Interlinking of Rivers

ABSTRACT At present, India suffers a lot due to inequality in water access across the diverse eco-regions. To satisfy this, interlinking major rivers of country seems to appeal to the popular imagination. The project promises to be most massive and most controversial infrastructure, development that might ever be undertaken. Though the cost of implementation is high, this is only a option available to solve water crisis with reasonable returns. Interlinking of major rivers not only break India\u2019s water problem but also provide cheap surface transport throughout the year as navigational canals, hydropower generation, flood control, irrigation and drinking water.

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INTRODUCTION Our present issue is the preparation of the scheme for interlinking of rivers with a view to avoid loss of life, property and agriculture produced due to floods and droughts in different parts of the country. Although 75% of the earth\u2019s surface is covered with water, only a minuscule Proportion of it is available for human needs as fresh water. With so little water available and most of it polluted & depleted, disputes over the use of fresh water are becoming very common. Due to uncertain and inequitable rains we have to face scarcity of water in dry seasons. To reduce this scarcity and also to bring most of

the irrigable land under cultivation \u201cInterlinking of Rivers\u201d appears a way The National river interlinking plan has offered as a concrete solution to water scarcity, primarily for three claims, which it makes:\u2014 i)

First, interlinking would lead to a permanent drought proofing of the country by raising the irrigation potential to equal the current net sown area of about 150 million hectares.

ii) Second, it would mitigate the annual floods in Ganga and Brahmaputra. iii) Third, it would add 34,000 MW of hydropower to the national pool.

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Interlinking of Rivers NEED OF PROJECT

The water availability even for drinking purposes becomes

critical, particularly in summer months as the rivers dry up and ground water recedes. Regional variations in 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 creates havoc due to floods. The population of India, which is around 1000 million at present, is expected to increase to 1500 to 1800 million in year 2050 and that would require about 450 million tones of food grains. For meeting this requirement, it would be necessary to increase irrigation potential that could be created through conventional sources has been assessed to be about 140 million hectares. One of the most effective ways to increase irrigation potential for increasing the food grain production, mitigate floods and droughts and reduce regional imbalance in the availability of water is the interlinking of rivers to transfer water from the surplus rivers to deficient areas. By interlinking of rivers regional imbalances could be reduced significantly and lot of benefits by the way of additional irrigation, domestic and industrial water supply, hydro power generation, navigational facilities etc. would accrue.

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SOURCES FOR OBTAINING WATER •1

Construction of all the types of dams wherever they are technically feasible

and where there are no cheaper alternatives available. •2

Effective and Efficient use of available water.

•3

Treatment and recycling of Water used.

•4

Interlinking of river by means of canals.

Every year normally we get 4000 B.C.M. water and by improper utilization of available water resources 1900 B.C.M. water is mixed with sea without being used. By completing this project 200 B.C.M. water can be well secured River interlinking by means of canals is the project which will surely help in development of India. India’s population is over 100 crores at present, this will increase to 150-180 crores in 2050, and then the need of food grain and water will be tremendous than present, so it is necessary to develop projects which will help to increase the food grain and remain self sufficient.

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HISTORY OF THE PROJECT Interlinking of Rivers as a solution for drought and flood is not a new proposal. It was Sir Arthur Cotton who had originally proposed the networking of rivers more than a century ago, and Dr. K.L. Rao, the Minister of Power and Irrigation in the Cabinet of Smt. Indira Gandhi revived this proposal in 1972. Both were no doubt eminent engineers. Sir Cotton’s prime concern was for inland navigational network And Dr. Rao’s concern was for irrigation and power. Neither could perceive that far wider issues were involved. in 1970 when India was facing acute shortage of food grain production and drought management, this lead to the formation of national perspective plan for inter basin transfer of water by the union ministry of irrigation . K. L. Rao’s proposal

Mr. Rao’s presented his plan to link the Ganga and Cauvery. In 1974, this proposal had 2640 km long Ganga Cauvery link as its main component involved large scale pumping over a head of 550 m the power requirement for lifting the water was huge estimated to be 5000 to 7000 Mw, for irrigating additional area of 4 million hectares only. The scheme was also have not having any flood control benefit. Dr.rao’s had estimated this proposal to cost about Rs. 12500 crores, which at 2002 price level comes to about Rs. 150000 crores.

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GOVERNMENT PLAN FOR RIVER INTERLINKING The Government prepared its own plan in 1980 and in 1982 the National Water Development Agency (NWDA) was set up to carry out detailed studies. It envisioned a 30 year plan but following the Supreme Court directive, the Task Force has published a time table which lists 2016 as the date for completion. No explanation has been provided how this is to be managed. Such a project should have been preceded by a study of: i) Financial Viability ii) Technological Capability iii) Ecological Sustainability iv) detailed Environmental Impact Assessment.

NATIONAL WATER DEVELOPMENT AGENCY (1982)

The Govt. of India was set up the N.W.D.A. in July 1982 as an Autonomous Society under Societies Registration Act , 1860, under Ministry of Water Resources to carry out water balance and other studies on a scientific and realistic basis to prepare feasibility reports for inter basin water transfer link schemes . The N.W.D.A. proposed two component stages -

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1. Himalayan Component-

N.W.D.A. has completed the pre- feasibility studies of 14 links in the Himalayan Component. They are 1. Manas - Sankosh- Tista Ganga link 2. Jogighopa - Tista- Farakka link 3. Ganga- Damodar - Subernarekha link 4. Subernarekha - Mahanadi link 5. Farakka - Sunderbans link 6. Gandak -Ganga link C.O.E.& T.,Akola

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7. Ghaghara - Yamuna link 8. Sarda - Yamuna link 9. Yamuna - Rajasthan link 10. Rajasthan - Sabarmati link 11. Chunar - Sone Barrage link 12. Sone dam - Southern tributaries of Ganga link 13. Kosi - Ghaghara link and 14. Kosi -Mechi link 2. Peninsular Component :

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N.W.D.A. studied deeply the water balance studies of various major rivers pre -feasibility studies for 16 probable links where carries out, out of which 7 have also been completed. The links are 1. Mahanadi - Godavari link 2. Inchampalli -Nagarjunasagar link 3. Inchampalli Low Dam - Nagarjunasagar Tail Pond link 4. Polavaram - Vijayavada link 5. Almatti - Pennar link 6. Shrisailam - Pennar link 7. Nagarjunasagar - Somasila link 8. Somasila - Grand Anicut link 9. Kattalai - Vaigai - Gundar link 10. Pamba - Achamkovil - Vaippar link 11. Bedti - Varada link 12. Netravati - Hemavati link 13. Damanganga - Pinjal link 14. Par - Tapi - Narmada link 15. Ken - Betwa link 16. Parbati - Kalisindh - Chambal link

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SUCCESSFUL INTERLINKING PROJECTS IN THE WORLD Some of the successful projects of interlinking of rivers have been mentioned as below: a)

Lesotho Highland Water Project, Africa : It is the largest interbasin

and transboundry water project in Saharan Africa. It has 5 phases with series of dams, tunnels and power stations. Phase 1A, 1B are completed with construction of dams nearing completion.

It has a capacity of

diverting 70 m3/s b)

State Water Project, California :

The project has 22 dams and

reservoirs, 444 mile aqueduct pumps from Oroville dam over Tehachapi mountain to California. The project utilises 30% water for irrigation in San Joaquin valley & 70% for residences and industries in California. c)

Wanjiazhai Water Transfer Project, China : It is located in North

China province. The project shall benefit 40% of China’s land, 45% of population which have annual deficit of 40BCM. It has 5 pumping stations and 4 aqueducts.

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BENEFITS OF THE PROJECT 1.

Hydropower Generation:

The biggest bonus of this project is the production of electricity.

This project will add 34000MW of hydroelectricity. The cost of

production of hydroelectricity is Rs. 18 to 20 crores per generation of MW. To produce 34000MW of electricity, Rs. 6.8 lakh crores of money is required. This means all this is bonus ones the project (costing Rs. 5.6 lakhs crores) is ready. 2. Irrigation:

This project has a potential to irrigate another 3.5 crores hectare-meter. Irrigation has general norms for minor irrigation at Rs.30000 per hectare. 3. Human Resources :

India will surpassed China in 2035 as far as population is concerned. If we look at our awesome population from resource point of view, it will be the biggest advantage.

And this human resource can be very well

utilized in project like river linking. 4. Employment :

Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of India is Rs. 22 lakhs crores.

There are 64% labour force in agriculture, 72% people depend on

agriculture, but only 1% student go to this important sector as far as higher

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education is concerned. There is no unemployment in agriculture sector but if we properly rearrange on our resources we can definitely go ahead of other countries with the help of this mega project.

5. Navigational facilities. 6. Famine and Drought-Prone Area Development. 7. Ground water level increases. 8. Development of industries. 9. Desert areas will be irrigated. 10. Flood protection and managements.

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DEMERITS OF RIVER INTERLINKING AND IT'S SOLUTIONS. 1) Very expensive project:

For this World Bank will give more than 50% funds. Projects should be planned as per demand and priority. 2) Resettlement due to construction:

Conflicts between people and construction should not be raised, and for this government should decide proper plan for resettlement before construction. 3) Huge land under construction

As per possible condition, the people whose land is under construction should be resettled by equal amount of land. 4) Conflicts between states:

Proper negotiation and organization should be organized by concern departments, in this way various conflicts can be settled.

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CONCLUSION Though India being a tropical country, having very good rainfall, with number of major reservoirs, yet searching for water in summer is not stopped. This may be due to the poor water management policies. Linking of rivers may solve the above mentioned problems. Such projects will be successful when they are technically feasible without political interference. With interlinking of rivers, India may flourish in water resource development, and thus this can be a very important technological prospect in this new millennium.

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REFERENCES 1. “National Water Policy”, published by Government of India, Sept. 1987 2. Journal of Indian Water Works Association ( IWWA) Oct.-Dec. 2003. 3. Dr.K.L.Rao’s

India’s

Water

Wealth-Its

Assessment

Uses

&

Projections”-Orient Longman Publications1975. 4. http://taskforce on interlinking of rivers

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interlinking of river

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