Let us take Peninsular rivers. They all are seasonal depending only on rainfall as the source of water. They are fast flowing and flow through mostly undulating landscape. They have excess water in Monsoon and dry in summer if there is no storage and regulated flow. Though all the rivers have dams and reservoirs, due to increasing water demand and a year or two drought years, the existing storage capacity is falling short. There is always a marked shortage of water in certain areas like Marathwada, Vidarbha in Maharashtra, Bidar in Karnataka and Telangana. The Himalayan Rivers - 1. Indus basin has no excess water left for diversion out of Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan. It may infact be deficit of water requiring replenishment from other sources like the Ganga system. 2. Ganga and Brahmaputra river systems though perennial also have monsoon rainfall as their main source of water. The glacial water component is much less as compared to the Indus. Meaning, these rivers are much leaner during summers. Therefore we cannot depend on diverting Ganges / Brahmaputra waters to other river systems during summers. In order to overcome this, larger dams, reservoirs are needed to store monsoon rain water both on the Himalayan and Peninsular rivers. The present storage capacity is inadequate as we can see this year. Apart from the river systems, the Western coastal plains is a peculiar case. Though it gets excess rainfall close to 200 cms or more. The water quickly flows into the sea and all the small rivers get dry by December. Most of the land though fertile can be cropped only once due to paucity of water / irrigation. A series of reservoirs should be constructed at the foothills of the Western ghats for the storage which can feed a canal running right from Surat over Narmada in the North to Vembanad Lake in Kerala should be conceived. Excess water from this system can be diverted to North Gujarat, South Rajasthan, River linking through barrages / canals will help in properly utilising the water resources. It can be used efficiently for flood control; providing water to rain deficit regions, etc. The need of today is to develop a grid plan (like NTPC's for electricity) of dams, reservoirs, barrages, inter-link canals for entire India, with the aim that if required water from any swollen river can be diverted to another river or area - eg. say Kosi river water could be diverted to distant Bidar in Karnataka or Brahmaputra to Saurashtra.
Published by Mihir C
Let us take Peninsular rivers. They all are seasonal depending only on rainfall as the source of water. They are fast flowing and flow through mostly undulating landscape. They have excess water in Monsoon and dry in summer if there is no storage and regulated flow. Though all the rivers have dams and reservoirs, due to increasing water demand and a year or two drought years, the existing storage capacity is falling short. There is always a marked shortage of water in certain areas like Marathwada, Vidarbha in Maharashtra, Bidar in Karnataka and Telangana.
The Himalayan Rivers -
1. Indus basin has no excess water left for diversion out of Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan. It may infact be deficit of water requiring replenishment from other sources like the Ganga system.
2. Ganga and Brahmaputra river systems though perennial also have monsoon rainfall as their main source of water. The glacial water component is much less as compared to the Indus. Meaning, these rivers are much leaner during summers. Therefore we cannot depend on diverting Ganges / Brahmaputra waters to other river systems during summers.
In order to overcome this, larger dams, reservoirs are needed to store monsoon rain water both on the Himalayan and Peninsular rivers. The present storage capacity is inadequate as we can see this year.
Apart from the river systems, the Western coastal plains is a peculiar case. Though it gets excess rainfall close to 200 cms or more. The water quickly flows into the sea and all the small rivers get dry by December. Most of the land though fertile can be cropped only once due to paucity of water / irrigation. A series of reservoirs should be constructed at the foothills of the Western ghats for the storage which can feed a canal running right from Surat over Narmada in the North to Vembanad Lake in Kerala should be conceived. Excess water from this system can be diverted to North Gujarat, South Rajasthan,
River linking through barrages / canals will help in properly utilising the water resources. It can be used efficiently for flood control; providing water to rain deficit regions, etc.
The need of today is to develop a grid plan (like NTPC's for electricity) of dams, reservoirs, barrages, inter-link canals for entire India, with the aim that if required water from any swollen river can be diverted to another river or area - eg. say Kosi river water could be diverted to distant Bidar in Karnataka or Brahmaputra to Saurashtra.