SHOULD WE GO SLOW ON INTER-LINKING OF RIVERS?
Dr. Jai Maharaj
[ From: "Gopal Ashtekar" <g...@vsnl.com>
[ Subject: Should we go slow on inter-linking of rivers? - M. V. Kamath
[ Date: Thu, 18 Mar 2004
Pranam.
This article deserves a good study. Such hasty steps may
create problems which may prove very difficult to handle.
In my opinion, the nature's rules and its course is fixed
after millions of years existence. To tinker with them
may create problem. It is just not a problem of plus and
minus. There is so much excess of water, so why not use
it somewhere? The question shows the ignorance of the
consequences of such steps. Along with biological life it
may destroy old conditions and bilogical life and create
a new one varying according to the degree of temperature
the water travels through. The crops is a great problem
indeed. We have to consider what crops can be taken,
what are our needs and the yield in new conditions.
Anyway, as Shri Kamath says, this is a great food for
thought. In an old Readers Digest I had read about
shifting of a Bank premises. The Management wanted not
to inconvenience the customers for a single minute. The
bank was in one part of New York and was to be shifted in
the next road. The planning to shift was done for one
year and when the plans were completed orders were issued
execution which was done between Saturday evening and
Monday morning when not a single customer was put to any
loss of time. What about such a gigantic project?
Shri Madhavrao Chitale who is the Bhishmacharya of Water
Management, Dams etc, had first done the experiment of
carrying out experiments on a mini-models which was very
successful and is still faithfully followed. Perhaps, the
whole project could be first done on a small pilot scale.
But the temperatures and changing weathers from region to
region in India is going to be a problem too.
Namaste.
G. V. Ashtekar
Should we go slow on inter-linking of rivers?
By M. V. Kamath
FREE PRESS JOURNAL
Thursday, March 18, 2004
Let us face it: Water is going to be the most serious
problem that the country will be facing in the 21st
century. State after State is complaining of water
shortage and if no adequate steps are taken soon there is
going to be trouble ahead. So what needs to be done?
Politicians are suggesting the easiest ways available.
Not so long ago the Chief Minister of Karnataka declared
that the `only solution' to the problem of water shortage
is the linking of rivers. Since then Chief Ministers of
other states have been repeating this mantra.
The latest to join this choir are Deputy Prime Minister
L. K. Advani and President A. P. J. Abdul Kalam.
Addressing a BJP regional gathering at Bhimavaram in
Andhra Pradesh on 27 February, Advani assured his
listeners that if the BJP-led NDA government was returned
to power, it would see that the inter-linking of eleven
rivers would be achieved by 2010. As if on cue, speaking
in Kolkata on the same day, President Abdul Kalam put his
weight behind the proposed inter-linking of rivers mooted
by the Centre. ``This is an important mission for both
water and power scarcity. This mission will eliminate the
periodical problem of drought and floods experienced in a
number of river basins'' the President said addressing
the Indian Statistical Institute.
It is not clear exactly how much thought either of them
has given to the subject of inter-linking India's rivers.
In the first place the project is estimated to cost a
staggering sum of Rs. 56,000 crores over a period of ten
years or Rs. 56,000 crores a year. According to
information presently available, the scheme envisages
effecting 30 river links in the next two years. Also
envisaged is construction of over 1,000 kms. of link
canals.
Needed would he 10,000 MW of electricity for lifting
11,000 cusecs of water. No less than 400 new reservoirs
are programmed to be constructed. Millions of jobs can be
safely envisaged. But what are the facts? In the first
place, there is no unanimity of opinion in identifying
basins with surplus water. Mahanadi and Godavari
according to central government sources have surplus
water but the governments of Orissa and Andhra Pradesh
dispute this claim.
So who will listen to whom? The truth is that actual
stream flow data for the major rivers and their
tributaries is non-existent. Collecting reliable stream
flow data is an expensive affair though that task is
expected to be discharged by the Task Force for Linking
Rivers appointed by the Union Government with Suresh
Prabhu as its chairman and C.B. Thatte, a former Water
Resources Secretary, as member Secretary. Rainfall data,
of course, is available but according to knowledgeable
sources, there have been no systematic attempts at
estimating the amount of run off generated for various
intensities of rainfall over various types of
topographical features. Examples of similar projects
attempted on a much smaller scale are few. True,
California, in the United States, appears to be the only
successful state to have transferred surplus water from
the hilly north to the fertile plains of south California
over a distance of 720 kms.
But the Russian scheme of diverting water of the Amu
Darya and Syr Darya rivers from flowing to the Aral Sea
has had calamitous results. The economic damage as a
result of this completed project has been estimated to be
around $ 1.25 to $ 2.5 billion per year. For all intents
and purposes the Aral Sea which once was a thriving
commercial fishery venture had been reduced to a mockery.
It has a painful lesson to teach. In India itself we have
the Sutlej-Yamuna link canal, 306 kms. long on which over
Rs. 850 crores have already been spent which, experts
say, has been languishing since 1980. As Dr. B. P.
Radhakrishna of the Geological Society of India put it:
``The well advertised link canal remains as the most
expensive and useless ditch ever built''. It is also said
that nearer home there is the Telugu-Ganga project which
has been languishing for years.
To quote Dr. Radhakrishna again: ``The canal passes
through arid tracts of Guntur and Nellore districts and
we may be certain that not a drop of water will be
allowed to reach Chennai''. It is no doubt true that many
of the rivers in the north of India are frequently
affected by floods and discharges copious amounts of
water during the monsoon months but expert opinion is
that no single dam, nor even a series of dams can be
expected to store this water and bring the flow under
control.
The point is made that it will not be possible to control
floods where the magnitude of the river water flow is of
the order of 5 to 16 m above the danger level. What is
important to remember is that preserving rivers in free-
flow condition is considered ecologically necessary and
the construction of large dams is now legally prohibited
in Sweden and some states in the US. Experts remind us
that water stored by dams suffer a loss of nearly 30 per
cent through evaporation. They ask: ``Are we constructing
these structures at enormous cost only to allow nearly a
third of it to evaporate?'' Good question.
If inter-linking of rivers, then, is not the answer to
our water problems, what is the answer? The most obvious
way to preserve as much rain water as possible is to
impound it where it falls. This is what our ancestors did
to which no less a statesman than Edmund Burke has laid
testimony and paid tribute. Wrote Burke: ``These are the
monuments of real kings who were the fathers of their
people, testators to the posterity which they embraced as
their own'' who extended ``the domination of their bounty
beyond the limits of Nature...'' If rivers are not to be
inter-linked, what are the options open to our country?
One, to avoid floods, rivers have to be continuously
dredged.
Apart from anything else, they will provide perpetual
employment to people even while providing farmers with
excellent extra soil. Two, skills have to be developed
for arresting rain water where it falls and allowing it
to recharge groundwater reservoirs. This is now being
extensively resorted to in Kutch. Three, steps have to be
taken for afforestation of catchment areas, controur
bunding, levelling of land, creation of farm ponds and
check dams across nullahs aimed at arresting the flow of
water, on the surface and directing it below ground.
It has been noticed that a certain amount of precipitated
rain water flows from the coastal region into the sea
through porous rocks and sediments, this component being
designated as Submarine Ground Water Discharge (SGWD). It
is claimed that this flow could be as high as 40% of
surface flow. Surely ways and means could be found for
diverting this water for constructive use? Serious
attention has to be given to construction of farm ponds.
Household ponds are not uncommon in West Bengal and in
Kerala.
These ponds are usually utilised to grow fish but they
also have their use in raising ground water levels and
saving rain water. According to Dr. Radhakrishna, a pond
measuring 2000 sq. ft with one meter depth can provide
water for a hectare and that is something of an
achievement. In many ways India is not all that badly off
when compared to many other parts of the world with
respect to water availability. It is thus claimed that
the average amount of rainfall received over the plains
of India is 117 cms as against the global average of only
70 cms. Reportedly this annual precipitation amounts to
as much as 370 million hectare metres of water which
should be adequate for India's requirement. Here, two
points can be raised. One is the manner in which water is
used.
Are our farmers wasting water just because it is
available? Has any attempt been made both by Union and
State governments to teach farmers modern methods of drip
irrigation and use of sprinklers? It is common knowledge
that in many parts of India an enormous amount of canal
water is thoroughly wasted. This has to be controlled and
farmers have to be taught the principle of maximisation
of water use. Notes Dr. Radhakrishna: ``Providing excess
water for irrigation knowing fully well that it leads to
lesser yields, subsidizing water and giving free
electricity, encouraging farmers to grow water-guzzling
crops like sugarcane and paddy these are measures over
which governments have exercised no control''. Isn't it
time to exercise such control? Farmers have to be told
how to make the best use of what they get.
A point has been indeed made that excessive use of water
has, in fact, degraded the black soil of Maharashtra and
Karnataka. Another and much less discussed point is the
damage that inter-linking of rivers might wreak to
organic life in each river system. No adequate study,
apparently, has been made of this.
Yet one more point that commands attention is the nature
of crops to be raised in water deficient areas. It is
said for example, that a growing reluctance on the part
of farmers in certain areas of Karnataka has led to the
use of extra amounts of water. Raagi and Jowar need very
little water in comparison to sugarcane growing. Says Dr.
Radhakrishna: "If the farmers of Mandya cut down on
sugarcane cultivation and if Tamil Nadu can give up their
claim for growing a third crop of paddy, especially at a
time of unprecedented drought, there would be no dearth
of water in the Cauvery basin''.
That should be some food for thought. But above and
beyond all these ideas is the damage done by an
uncontrolled population growth, need for growing more
food and availability of water. The more people who have
to be fed, the more grain is required and to grow that
much more grain, that much more water is required. There
is no escaping from that fact. They are in a very genuine
sense interlinked. Does the State have an adequate and
enforceable plan to bring down the population presently
estimated a around 1.2 billion to a manageable, say, 600
million? If we can achieve this one single goal, many of
our water problems would get automatically resolved.
Drastic steps have to be taken to reduce population. It
is against this background that one must assess the
wisdom of spending Rs. 560,000 crores. Both India's
President and Deputy Prime Minister must think again.
That much money can be put to much better uses than
digging canals and displacing people.
End of forwarded message from "Gopal Ashtekar" <g...@vsnl.com>
Jai Maharaj
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Adi Anant
>
> By M. V. Kamath
> FREE PRESS JOURNAL
> Thursday, March 18, 2004
> has given to the subject of inter-linking India's rivers.
> In the first place the project is estimated to cost a
> years or Rs. 56,000 crores a year. According to
> information presently available, the scheme envisages
> effecting 30 river links in the next two years. Also
> envisaged is construction of over 1,000 kms. of link
> canals.
I think Indians should stop immediately using the word 'staggering'.
It only shows the stunted nature of their imaginations. And it kills
their courage by making them feel small. Indians should feel tall and
proud, and take calculated risks that smaller minds would balk at.
Anyone 'staggered' by a number or by a concept, is an idiot, with
little ability to get a grasp on things.
Adi Anant