WATER RESOURCES DEVELOPMENT IN INDIA THROUGH
INTER-LINKING OF RIVERS
M.V.S.S.GIRIDHAR, Dr. G.K.VISWANADH,
Assistant Professor, Assoc. Prof. in Civil Engg.,
C.M.R. College of Engg.&Tech, J.N.T.U College of Engineering,
Medchel, Hyderabad. Kukatpally, HYDERABAD-500072.
ABSTRACT
India receives on an average of
4,000 billion cubic meters (BCM) of precipitation every year, 75 per cent of
which is spread over three monsoon months while concentrated rainfall occurs
only in a period of about 100hours duration. After providing for the losses due
to immediate evaporation and ground absorption, the estimated available water
resource is about 1,900 BCM. Two-thirds of this is contributed by the
Ganga-Brahmaputra-Meghna (GBM) system covering one third of the country's
geographical area. Consequently, the remaining two-thirds of the country have
to be satisfied with the balance resource, and face the deficiencies while the
GBM basin experiences floods. Thus the main characteristic of India's water
resources is its uneven distribution in space and time leading to endemic and
sporadic problems of water shortages and excesses.
Water resource development should,
not only provide for drinking water, irrigation and hydropower generation but
also for conservation of the eco-system. While calling for regular monitoring
of the quality of the surface and ground water, the 1987 policy rightly stated
that ''minimum flow should be ensured in the natural streams for maintaining
ecology and social considerations''. Unlike the present policy, which talks of
farmers 'participation in water distribution and collection of water rates, the
new policy should emphasize on participatory approach from the stage of planning
and designing of new schemes. It would be necessary to make legal and
institutional changes at various levels to ensure implementation of this
approach.
Floods in the Himalayan belt and
Droughts in the Southern States would need to be remedied adopting a single
National Water Basin Concept. The linking of one rain fed river to another rain
fed river may not be of much use. Therefore, it is imperative to link the
Himalayan Rivers like Ganga, Indus, Brahmaputra with the other rivers.
Interlinking of Rivers is only the choice available before the nation for
solving several chronic water related problems.
Introduction:
Our river system is of four
types: (a). Himalayan rivers, (b).
Peninsular rivers, (c). Coastal rivers and (d).Rivers of the inland drainage
basin. The National Water Resources Council formulated a National Water Policy
in 1987. It states that water is one of the crucial elements in developmental
planning and as such, it should be planned, developed and conserved on an
integrated and environmentally sound basis keeping in view the needs of the
states concerned. National Water Board was formed in September 1990 to review
the progress made in implementing the national water policy.
The Ministry of Water Resources
in the year 1980 had prepared a National Perspective Plan (NPP) for optimum
development of water resources of the country envisaging inter basin transfer
of water from surplus to deficit basins / areas. The linkages when executed
will enable mitigation of flood and drought; increase availability of water for
irrigation, hydropower development and other uses. To give practical shape to
the linkage proposals, the National Water Development Agency (NWDA) was
established to carry out the water balance and other technical studies.
A water management strategy
should be planned assuming three consecutive failures of monsoons, failure
being defined as a 25 percent shortfall in annual average precipitation rate.
This is complementary to the plans in place to provide for three consecutive
shortfalls in crop production by adequate food grain storage and distribution
facilities in the country. Water
Management Revolution has to be initiated as a people's movement.
The vast spatial and temporal
variations in the availability of water exemplify the fact that the country
does not face a water crisis but has only to contend with and find solutions
for an equitable distribution. Thus, even though the per capita availability of
water in India is among the best in the world, the utilizable quantity is much less
because of the dependence on monsoon and because of the fact that 85 to 90 per
cent of the river run-offs occur during the four monsoon months of a year. Even
during the monsoon months, the run-offs are uneven in the river basins; for
example, Brahmaputra accounts for about twice the amount of the run-offs in the
Ganga during the monsoon months. This situation leads to a key design criterion
for water management: the storing and transferring of surplus waters from the
Brahmaputra river basin to the Ganga and peninsular river basins.
About one-third of the entire
area of the country is drought-prone. Even states such as Uttar Pradesh and
Uttaranchal have some areas, which become drought-prone because the canal
systems are not adequately charged with the run-offs of water to reach to the
tail-ends of the canals. There are also other causes such as poor maintenance
of canals, poor linings of canals to prevent percolation of water and the
absence of percolation tanks to recharge groundwater sanctuaries and surrounding
wells. The age-old tradition of tank-maintenance has given place to the urban
expansion resulting in the tank-beds converted as residential plots,
aggravating the already acute water management situation.
Water
Resource in India
The average annual natural
flow available works out to be about 1,880 cubic km. Out of this only 1,140 cubic km can be put to
beneficial use by conventional methods of development due to topographical,
hydrological and other constraints. Presently, utilization of water is 552
cubic km of which 362 cubic km of surface water and 190 cubic km of ground
water. Demand for water for diverse purposes such as domestic, municipal,
agricultural, navigational, power generation, etc. has been constantly
increasing over the years.
The total demand has been
projected to grow to 750 cubic km by the year 2002 and to 1050 cubic km by
2025. The demand by the industrial sector is to go up from 3 per cent in 1990
to 4 percent in 2000 and to move up to 11.5 per cent in 2025. The share of irrigation
demand is projected to decline from 84 per cent in 2000 to 73 percent in 2025.
Thus, a doubling of the demand for water in the next 32 years is going to add
tremendous pressure on the water supply systems in the country. Moreover, the
accelerated increase in the demand for industrial water use is going to pose
innumerable problems as water use in the industrial sector, unlike in the
domestic and irrigation fronts, has serious implications in terms of quality
and pollution.
Water Management is perhaps the
most serious problem unless it is studied and implemented scientifically. The
critical problem is the uneven distribution of the run-offs and precipitation
rates during the monsoon season. While the Brahmaputra and Mahanadi river
basins regularly face floods due to heavy run-offs, most other regions (with
the exception of the Western Ghat regions) face recurrent drought situations.
Drought occurs in over 80 per cent of the country's land area even if there is
a shortfall in rains of only 25 per cent from the national annual average of
554 mm (for the monsoon period, June-July). National level and regional level
policies and organizational arrangements are to be evolved to develop an
integrated water management strategy with a sense of urgency before the problem
gets out of hand.
Many basins in the country are
surplus in water resource even in the ultimate stage of development while
others face serious shortages. Creation of storages and inter-basin transfer of
water from surplus to deficit regions could therefore be an option for
achieving more equitable distribution of our water wealth and its optimal
utilization. Hence if the resource abundant rivers like the Brahmaputra, Ganga,
etc., could be linked with other rivers and a National Water Grid created, the
miseries of recurring droughts and floods could be contained to a great
extent. The plan when fully implemented
is estimated to bring an additional area of 35mha under irrigation and generate
additional power (installed capacity 34,000 MW) with an investment of
Rs.330,000 crores (1995-96 price level). About 30 years would be required to
fully implement the scheme needing an annual budget of Rs.11,000crores.
Additional food production of
100 million tonnes (present 200 million tonnes) to feed additional mouths would
require more area to be brought under irrigation. The present 104crore
population would become 140crores by 2025 as per the World Bank studies.
Better water management is
economically more attractive than bringing water through a costly grid, they
say; demand management by improving water use efficiency, evaporation control,
recycling and reuse of water, etc., can also achieve the requisite objectives.
The investments in water transfers being economically less efficient compared
to industrial and commercial investments for such ventures, deficiency in food
can be met from imports at a cheaper cost. There are also groups advocating
small water harvesting structures to reduce flood effects, improve soil
moisture and recharging ground water as an alternative to long distance water
transfers.
Role of floods and droughts in water resources
development:
Frequent occurrence of floods
and droughts is a reflection of our failure to develop and manage the country's
water resources. Needless to say that water, a key element in our eco-system,
is not getting enough attention except when droughts stalk the countryside and
floods devastate large tracts of land and habitats. Even then, we remain
satisfied by providing some relief to the affected people instead of learning
from these failures and taking recourse to obvious and available solutions.
Floods and droughts in the
intervening years in various parts of the country and the consequent loss of
life and property necessitated the Government of India to review the situation
and to come out with a National Perspective Plan for inter-linking the rivers.
The plan comprises two components:
(i) The Himalayan river
component envisaging storages and inter linking canal systems to transfer
surplus flows of the Kosi, Gandak and Ghagra to the west; Brahmaputra-Ganga
link to augment the dry weather flows of the Ganga; Ganga -Yamuna link to serve
the drought areas of Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat as also south Uttar Pradesh
and south Bihar.
(ii) The Peninsular river component
envisaging to divert the Mahanadi surplus to the Godavari and the surplus
therefrom to the Krishna, Pennar and Cauvery, with terminal dams on the
Mahanadi and the Godavari to enable irrigation in the drought areas of the
South.
PROPOSED INTER-BASIN WATER TRANSFER LINKS
As per the National Perspective
Plan for Interlinking of Rivers, the project components are Himalayan and
Peninsular.
Himalayan Rivers Development
is aimed at construction of storage reservoirs on the principal tributaries of
the Ganga and the Brahmaputra along with inter-linking canal systems to
transfer surplus flows of the eastern tributaries of the Ganga to the west,
apart from linking of the main Brahmaputra and its tributaries with the Ganga
and Ganga with Mahanadi.
Peninsular Rivers
Development
Construction of an interlinking canal
system backed up by adequate storages could be planned to meet all requirements
of Kerala as also for transfer of some
waters towards east to meet the needs of drought affected areas. The peninsular
Component is expected to provide additional irrigation of about 13 million
hectare and is expected to generate about 4 million KW of power. 16 links have
been identified in the peninsular segment. One of the links is to transfer
excess water from the Mahanadi and the Godavari through nine link canals to the
deficit basins of the Krishna, the Pennar, the Cauvery and the Vaigai, which
will reportedly benefit Orissa, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. This
component is divided into four major parts:
- Inter-linking of
Mahanadi-Godavari-Krishna-Cauvery rivers and building storages at
potential sites in these basins
- Inter-linking of west
flowing rivers, north of Bombay and south of Tapi
- Inter-linking of
Ken-Chambal rivers
- Diversion of other
west flowing rivers
Benefits accrued from
linking.
- Creates the potential to increase agricultural
production.
- Avoid the losses due to drought conditions and
flooding in many parts of the country, due to variability in the monsoon
rains from year to year and from one region to another.
- Unify the country by involving every panchayat
as a shareholder.
- Provides for enhancing the security of the
country by providing an additional water line.
- Mitigate the
flooding problems.
- Solve the water scarcity situation in many
parts by providing for alternative, glacier, and perennial water
resources.
Constraints in water resources development.
The following are the major
constraints in water resources
development.
·
Huge expenditure is involved.
·
Many of the states may be hesitant thinking it
will disturb the orders of the Inter-State River Dispute Tribunal Awards on
sharing of waters.
·
Many of the canals may pass
through Forests for which permission may be required.
·
Relief and rehabilitation
measures for settlement of the people displaced by the linking of rivers.
·
The linking of rivers may
disrupt the entire hydrological cycle. Upon completion of the project, a
majority of the rivers may never drain into the ocean. The ecological impact of
reversing a natural process has to be studied in detail.
Scope for implementation
A water management strategy
should be planned assuming three consecutive failures of monsoons, failure
being defined as a 25 per cent shortfall in annual average precipitation rate
of 554 mm. This is complementary to the plans in place to provide for three
consecutive shortfalls in crop production by adequate food grain storage and
distribution facilities in the country. It is required to start a Water
Management Revolution as a people's movement. There may be no need for sourcing
for funds from external financial institutions such as the World Bank or the
Asian Development Bank or the Exim Bank since the project is basically
labour-intensive and does not need substantial technology imports. The sooner
the project is implemented the better it will be for both the agriculturists
and common citizens who have to trudge long distances for meeting even their
domestic water requirement.
Conclusions:
The study offers solution
for the water crisis, even distribution of water without any dispute among
riparian States still lies on a harmonious thinking at the political,
bureaucratic and technical levels. Co-operation among the users is vital. The
thought that water is a national asset must permeate through all sections. Only
then inter-basin transfer of water can be successful.
Water Users' Associations
and local bodies should be involved in the operation, maintenance and
management of water infrastructure/facilities at appropriate levels
progressively for transferring eventually the management of such facilities to
them, the rationale behind private sector participation in the water sector is
that it may lead to introduction of innovative ideas, generation of financial
resources and the adoption of corporate management in improving service
efficiency and accountability to users. The private sector can be involved in
planning, development and management of the water resources projects.
The undisputed
fact is that water is increasingly becoming a scarce resource in the country.
With limited stock and ever-increasing demand on this invaluable environmental
resource, many have started feeling that the era of sweet, free water is gone,
and that polluted, priced water is in. The water management assumes greater
significance. This cannot be an exclusive area of Experts only. There are
people too Community Participation in Water Management is a must.
REFERENCES:
- Dr.
G.K.Viswanadh, 1995, “ Optimal Water Management Studies Under Variable
Inflow Conditions In Lower Krishna Basin” Ph.D Thesis, J.N.T.U., Hyderabad.
- Prof.T.Shivaji Rao,
2002, “Inchampalli Dam On Godavari
Needs Revision”
- Navin Chandra Joshi,
200, “Optimising India's water
resource”
·
N.
Nandhivarman, 2001, The River Inter-link Case
·
Plan to link North, South rivers to be revived,
2002, News by The Hindu,
- “Agro-Climatic Zones In Andhra Prdesh”
- M.VENKAIAH NAIDU, 2002, Memorandum submitted to P.M. by the President of BJP.
- S. KALYANARAMAN, 2002, `Linking of rivers being studied',
- Dr. S.
Kalyanaraman, 2002, “National Waterways and inter-linking
rivers of Bharat a national perspective”
DETAILS OF HIMALAYAN RIVERS DEVELOPMENT PROJECT
|
Sl. No.
|
Description
|
|
1
|
Links
------------------------ 14
|
|
2
|
Main Dams ------------------------ 9
|
|
3
|
Length of Canal ------------------------ 6,099km
|
|
4
|
Transfer of Water ----------------------- 32,983MCM
|
|
5
|
Estimated Cost ----------------------- Rs.1,84,929Crores
|
(Source: India Today (Telugu)
@21-01-2003)
DETAILS OF
PENINSULAR RIVERS DEVELOPMENT PROJECT
|
Sl. No.
|
Description
|
|
1
|
Links
------------------------ 16
|
|
2
|
Main Dams ------------------------ 27
|
|
3
|
Length of Canal -----------------------
4,777km(Including 94km Tunnels)
|
|
4
|
Transfer of Water ----------------------- 1,41,288MCM
|
|
5
|
Estimated Cost ----------------------- Rs.1,05,745 Crores
|
(Source: India Today (Telugu) @21-01-2003)
PENINSULAR RIVERS DEVELOPMENT
|
Sl.No.
|
|
1
|
|
2
|
|
3
|
|
4
|
|
5
|
|
Description
|
|
|
Links
|
16
|
|
Main Dams
|
27
|
|
Length of Canal
|
4,777km(Including 94km
Tunnels)
|
|
Transfer of Water
|
1,41,288MCM
|
|
Estimated Cost
|
|
DETAILS OF PENINSULAR RIVERS DEVELOPMENT
Links
------------------ 16
Main Dams
------------------- 27
Length of Canal ------------------- 4,777km(Including 94km
Tunnels)
Transfer of Water -------------------
1,41,288MCM
Estimated Cost -------------------- Rs.1,05,745 Crores
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