JCE,BELGAUM Page 1

Indian Rivers Inter-link

By :
Sohan P.M , USN : 2JI10CV048
Puneeth M.B , USN : 2JI10CV036
Division : D
Branch : CIVIL ENGINEERING
The Indian Rivers Inter-link is a large-scale civil engineering
project that aims to join the majority of India's rivers by canals and so reduce
persistent water shortages in parts of India.

History
Plans for parts of the Indian Rivers Inter-link were mooted in the British
period.In 1972 the then Minister for Irrigation K. L. Rao proposed a 2640
kilometer long link between the Ganges and Cauvery rivers. In 1974 plans
were proposed for the Garland canal. In 1982 the National Water
Development Agency was set up to carry out surveys of the links and prepare
feasibility studies.

JCE,BELGAUM Page 2

The Project
The Inter-link would consist of two parts, a Northern Himalayan River
Development component and a Southern Peninsular River Development
component. The project aims to connect nearly 30 rivers in the country.It
envisages diverting water from surplus river basins to water deficient areas.
Floods and drought have become a recurring problem in India and the project is
aimed at improving the situation.The sharing of river waters has also led to
tensions among some states, the most outstanding example being
Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. These two southern states have been fighting for
over a century over the Cauvery river.
Himalayan development
The northern component would consist of a series of dams built along
the Ganges 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 Ganges to the west. The Brahmaputra and its
tributaries would be linked with the Ganges and the Ganges with the Mahanadi
river. This part of the project would provide additional irrigation for about
220,000 square kilometres and generate about 30 gigawatts of electricity.
In theory it would provide extra flood control in the Ganges and Brahmaputra
river basins. It could also provide excess water for the controversial Farakka
Barrage which could be used to flush out the silt at the port of Calcutta.

JCE,BELGAUM Page 3

Peninsular development
The main part of the project would send water from the eastern part of
India to the south and west. The southern development project would consist of
four main parts. First, the Mahanadi, Godavari. Krishna and Cauvery rivers
would all be linked by canals. Extra water storage dams would be built along the
course of these rivers. The purpose of this would be to transfer surplus water
from the Mahanadi and Godavari rivers to the south of India. Second, those
rivers that flow west to the north of Bombay and the south of Tapi would be
linked. Due to the irregular fluctuations in water levels in the region, as much
storage capacity would be built as possible. The water would be used by the
urban areas of Bombay and also to provide irrigation in the coastal areas of
Maharashtra. Third the Ken and Chambal rivers would be linked in order to
provide better water facilities for Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. Finally a
number of west-flowing rivers along the Western Ghats simply discharge into the
Arabian Sea. As many of these as possible would be diverted for irrigation
purposes. The Peninsular part of the project would provide additional irrigation
to 130,000 square kilometres and generation an additional 4 gigawatts of
power.
Economic benefits
India's Bharatiya Janata Party-led government sees the inter-linking of
rivers as a long-term solution to many of these problems. The party now plans
to involve its grass-roots activists in the project. "We plan to disseminate the
idea and educate the masses through our party workers," the president of the
BJP's youth wing, G Kishan Reddy, told the BBC. Mr Reddy, who is heading the
awareness drive, said workers of the youth wing would take the concept to state
capitals from where they would spread into the districts and villages. The BJP
says the river-linking project would boost the annual average income of
farmers from the present $40 per acre of land to over $500. It says once the
rivers are linked, India's food production will increase from about 200m
tonnes a year to 500m.
Budget and Cost Estimates
The estimated cost (in 2002) of interlinking rivers stands at
Rs. 5,60,000 crores (Goyal 2003)equivalent to approximately $122.7
billionwith an annual outlay over thirty-five years of Rs. 16,000 crores ($3.5
billion).Another estimate puts it close to 5,56,000 crores ($121.8 billion), out of
which Rs. 3,30,000 crores ($72.3 billion) is earmarked for linking the Himalayan
rivers with the various peninsular rivers (Sharma 2003) as the cost of
completing what would be the largest civil engineering project ever in
India.





JCE,BELGAUM Page 4

Criticism

Critics of the Inter-link scheme have alleged that the environmental
impact of these projects would be extreme. They point out that little water is
genuinely "surplus" or wasted merely because it runs into the sea. Diverting
water from so many rivers would have a serious impact on the mangroves of
the coastal regions and hence on fish stocks, that extra irrigation will cause
salt levels to rise and that the project will take precious, and disputed, water
from Bangladesh causing India international problems. Critics also point to
the enormous costs conservatively estimated at some 120 billion American
dollars which India can ill afford.
Bangladesh Issues: Dhaka fears that diversion of water from the
Brahmaputra and the Ganges, which provide 85% of the country's fresh water
flow in the dry season, would cause an ecological disaster.

Risk Assessment

The water surplus during JulyOctober in the donor area of the Ganga-
Brahmaputra basin is not available at the time needed (JanuaryMay) in the
peninsular rivers recipient area. Utilizing surplus waters, therefore, will require
enormous holding reservoirs; the direct transfer of surplus water is not possible.
The impacts on human activities as the most valid argument against the project.
Reductions in flooding by diversion of water will cause reductions in land
fertility and promote desertification.

The construction of dams and excavation of thousands of kilometers of
canals will cause massive population displacement. Dams will flood towns
and canals will make villages disappear by cutting through thousands of
kilometers of fertile land, leaving millions to a life of uncertainty.

Technological Challenges

Basically, the interlinking project aims to transfer floodwaters of the
Ganga and Brahmaputra river basins to the peninsular areas of South India.
There are three options to accomplish such transfer of surplus water.
i. Canal option: To construct lengthy canals for the purpose.
ii. Tunnel option: Allows water to flow under mountains.
iii. Pumping option: That will transfer water over mountains by pumping.
An analysis of the engineering options to deal with these challenges in
trying to implement the project does not seem to be an easy task.
Reference: Internet Sources.
Websites Refererred: www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Rivers_Inter-Link
JCE,BELGAUM Page 5




INTERLINKING OF RIVERS IN INDIA


The variations of the magnitude of annual rainfall in India are quite marked. It varies from an average
of about 300cm in northeastern states of India to less than 15cm in its northwestern part in the semi
arid and arid parts of Rajasthan and Gujarat. Also the Himalayan rivers flowing in the northern part of
India are snow fed and perennial, the peninsular rivers are rain fed and seasonal. The hydrological,
climatic and topographical factors cause recurrence of floods in certain parts of the country and some
parts may be under scarcity of water.

The diversified distribution of dominant water demanding features such as density of
population, irrigable land is the context that the interlinking of rivers for inter basin transfer of water on
a national scale has been `haunting individuals and even engineers for more than a century. Linking
of rivers and trans basin diversion of water is not new in our country and also other parts of the world.
Diversion of river waters for cultivation of crops has been taking place from historical times. During
recent times, the linking of rivers such as the Beas-sultlej link and the diversion of waters on a large
scale to far off areas in rajasthan through the rajasthan canal is an excellent example. The 440 Km
Narmada canal with a capacity of 40,000cusecs in the initial reach is also to supply water to some of
the districts in Rajasthan. The diversion of 40,000 cusecs of Ganga waters at Farakka Barrage has
also proved very useful. The present National plan for linking rivers has several components. The
main ones are :
(i) Himalayan components and
(ii) Peninsular riverlinks system

The implementation of the Himalayan component depends on the co-operation of Nepal as the major
tributaries of the Ganga originate in that country.


Need for Interlinking OF RIVERS: -
JCE,BELGAUM Page 6


Somewhere people loose their lives, home, belongings due to floods or droughts. In either
case people dont have water to drink, a basic necessity for life.

Requirement of water: -

<!--[if !supportLists]-->(i) <!--[endif]-->Irrigation-1,060 cubic meter
<!--[if !supportLists]-->(ii) <!--[endif]-->Domestic water supply and live stock 90 billion Cu-m
<!--[if !supportLists]-->(iii) <!--[endif]-->Agriculture 600 billion Cu-m
<!--[if !supportLists]-->(iv) <!--[endif]-->Industry 64 billion Cu-m
<!--[if !supportLists]-->(v) <!--[endif]-->Energy 50 billion Cu-m
Total 1,864 billion Cu-m

Thus the requirement of water will exceed the utilizable water resources of 1,122 billion Cu-m.
The position of agriculture is no better. Today agriculture has become most unattractive job because
of the floods and droughts. The Indian agriculture has been a Gambling in monsoon. The floods and
droughts have remained permanent visitors causing havoc with Indian economy.

We witness frequent floods in some parts of the country causing havoc, devastation,
damages, human suffering besides, a huge amount of public funds being spent on relief measures.

On the other hand, there is a large stretch of land vertically passing through the country as
rain shadow area in the name of drought prone area, commencing from the Ramanathapuram in the
south and ending up somewhere in the Ganganagar in Rajasthan traversing several districts in almost
every state in south India. Many farmers died by making suicides in Karnataka due to lack of rainfall in
the last five years.

JCE,BELGAUM Page 7


Concept of interlinking of rivers: -

The concept of interlinking of rivers evolved during 1950
s.
At that time, the UN promoted such
projects as part of Stability and Peace. That was the time when big projects and technology were
seen as the answer to poverty. It was also the time when many countries, after gaining independence
from colonial powers wanted to express their national confidence through such major projects. The
interlinking of Indian rivers proposal originated at the same time as the world became fascinated with
large water infrastructure projects.

Rivers, which join, act as drainage channels and entire river system so formed drains a
specified area called the basin of that system. Thus intra-basin interlinking of rivers is a natural
geomorphologic process. As distinct from this, interlinking of rivers belonging to altogether different
basins is not a natural process and can only take place through man made devices. Essentially inter-
basin transfer of water has been done through surface irrigation projects, in which lower portion of
command areas include areas in the adjoining river basin through which water is conveyed through
ridge canals. Such inter-basin transfer however, is marked by the following characteristics,
<!--[if !supportLists]-->(i) <!--[endif]-->Transfer of water is invariably to the adjoining basins and not
across basins.
<!--[if !supportLists]-->(ii) <!--[endif]-->Irrigation channels are generally ridge channels suitable for
distribution of water as distinct from valley channel suitable for drainage of water.
<!--[if !supportLists]-->(iii) <!--[endif]-->Water transferred is directly used, for irrigation in this case and not
brought to a river in the receiving basin and hence does not constitute interlinking of rivers, and
<!--[if !supportLists]-->(iv) <!--[endif]-->Transfer of water takes place through gravity flows and does not
require lifting by pumps.


From the above points, it is clear that interlinking of rivers through inter-basin transfer of water
is different from intra-basin linking of rivers. Interlinking of rivers that is being talked about as a
national programme will have the following characteristics:
<!--[if !supportLists]-->(i) <!--[endif]-->It envisages linking of rivers belonging to different basins, which
may or may not be adjacent.
JCE,BELGAUM Page 8

<!--[if !supportLists]-->(ii) <!--[endif]-->The primary purpose of link channels will be to transfer water of a
river to another river of a different basin. Any other use of a link channel will be incidental to serve the
primary purpose.
<!--[if !supportLists]-->(iii) <!--[endif]-->Neither the lateral slope available to the tributaries linking with their
parent channel nor the longitudinal slope available to ridge channels for distribution of water will be
available to link channels. Hence, the link channels will almost invariably have to operate with adverse
slope, making pumping or input of energy necessary. Also, the link channels, as any other channel,
will be subject to seepage losses of varying magnitudes depending upon their surface and subsoil
conditions.
<!--[if !supportLists]-->(iv) <!--[endif]-->As the objective of interlinking of rivers in the present context is to
transfer water from water-surplus rivers/basins to water-deficit rivers/basins, the direction of flows in
the link channel and its alignment will be determined accordingly.
NATIONAL WATER DEVELOPMENT AGENCY
OBJECTIVES OF NWDA
<!--[if !supportLists]-->(a) <!--[endif]-->To promote scientific development for optimum utilisation of water
resources in the country.
<!--[if !supportLists]-->(b) <!--[endif]-->To carry out detailed surveys and investigations of possible
reservoir sited and interconnecting links in order to establish feasibility of the proposal of Peninsular
Fivers Development and Himalayan Rivers Development Components forming part of National
Perspective for Water Resources Development prepared by the them Ministry of Irrigation ( now
Ministry of Water Resources and Central Water Commission)
<!--[if !supportLists]-->(c) <!--[endif]-->To carry out detailed studies about quantum of water in various
Peninsular River Systems and Himalayan River Systems and which can be transferred to other
basins/States after meeting reasonable needs of basin States in the foreseeable future.
<!--[if !supportLists]-->(d) <!--[endif]-->To prepare feasibility reports of various components of the scheme
relating to Peninsular Rivers Development and Himalayan Rivers Development.
<!--[if !supportLists]-->(e) <!--[endif]-->To take such other actions the Society may consider necessary,
incidental supplementary or conducive to the attainment of above objectives.
NATIONAL PERSPECTIVE FOR WATER RESOURCES DEVELOPMENT
The erstwhile ministry of irrigation (now ministry of water resources) and the Central Water
Commission had formulated in 1980 a National Perspective Plan for optimum utilization of water
resources in the country which envisages inter basin transfer of water from surplus to deficit areas.
Apart from diverting water from rivers which are surplus in ultimate stage of development to deficit
areas the plan enables flood moderation also. The National Perspective Plan comprises of two
main components
JCE,BELGAUM Page 9

<!--[if !supportLists]-->(f) <!--[endif]-->Himalayan rivers Development
<!--[if !supportLists]-->(g) <!--[endif]-->Peninsular rivers Development
(a) Himalayan Component
NWDA has completed the pre-feasibility studies of fourteen links in the Himalayan component
too. They are namely
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,
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

(b) Peninsular Components
In this component, NWDA studied in depth water balance studies of various major river
basins including Mahanadi, Godavari, Krishna, Pennar, Cauvery, Vaigai, West flowing rivers of
Kerala, Karnataka, north of Bombay and south of Tapi and southern tributaries of Yamuna to
establish water surplus and deficit regions. These studies indicate that while Mahanadi and Godavari
basins are water surplus, other basins in Peninsular India such as Krishna, Pennar, Cauvery and
Vaigai are water deficit. As a next step, pre-feasibility studies for 16 probable links were carried out, of
which 7 feasibility studies have also been completed by NWDA. Also, these studies suggest that it is
technically possible and economically viable to transfer water from the surplus river basins to the
deficit ones. Each link, in this component is briefly described here. This information is tentative and
likely to change at DPR stage.


<!--[if !supportLists]-->1. <!--[endif]-->Mahanadi-Godavari Link
JCE,BELGAUM Page 10

<!--[if !supportLists]-->2. <!--[endif]-->Inchampalli-Nagarjunasagar Link
<!--[if !supportLists]-->3. <!--[endif]-->Inchampalli Low Dam-Nagarjunasagar Tail Pond Link
<!--[if !supportLists]-->4. <!--[endif]-->Polavaram -Vijayawada Link
<!--[if !supportLists]-->5. <!--[endif]-->Almatti-Pennar Link
<!--[if !supportLists]-->6. <!--[endif]-->Srisailam-Pennar Link
<!--[if !supportLists]-->7. <!--[endif]-->Nagarjunasagar-Somasila Link
<!--[if !supportLists]-->8. <!--[endif]-->Somasila-Grand Anicut Link
<!--[if !supportLists]-->9. <!--[endif]-->Kattalai-Vaigai-Gundar Link
<!--[if !supportLists]-->10. <!--[endif]-->Pamba-Achankovil-Vaippar Link
<!--[if !supportLists]-->11. <!--[endif]-->Bedti-Varada Link
<!--[if !supportLists]-->12. <!--[endif]-->Netravati-Hemavati Link
<!--[if !supportLists]-->13. <!--[endif]-->Damanganga-Pinjal Link
<!--[if !supportLists]-->14. <!--[endif]-->Par-Tapi-Narmada Link
<!--[if !supportLists]-->15. <!--[endif]-->Ken-Betwa Link
<!--[if !supportLists]-->16. <!--[endif]-->Parbati-Kalisindh-Chambal Link

Benefits from peninsular and Himalayan rivers development components
On implementation of the proposed National Perspective Plan for inter-basin transfer of water,
accrual of irrigation benefits would be to the extent of about 35 million ha (25 M-ha from surface
waters and 10M-ha by increased use of ground water) which will be over and above the ultimate
potential of 140 M-ha from major, medium and minor irrigation projects and generation of 34 MKW of
hydropower apart from the benefits of flood control, navigation, water supply, fisheries, salinity ingress
and pollution control.

ENVIRONMENTAL, ECOLOGICAL AND
HUMAN IMPACT
JCE,BELGAUM Page 11

As interlinking of rivers is achieved by a combination of engineering measures such as dams,
barrages, cross drainage structures and link channels, environmental and ecological impacts as well
as displacement of people resulting form each of them will be the consequences of interlinking.
The link channels of interlinking system will be different from natural or other man made
channels in the following ways along with their associated consequences. The purpose of a link
channel is conveyance and transfer of water, as distinct from a natural channel, which is for drainage
or irrigation channel which is for distribution of water or a navigation channel where basically depths
are maintained for plying of boats. Link channels will mostly be in filling to avoid excessive lift, will
have to cross natural drainage channels and may pass through forested or inhabited areas. These
channels will generally carry high discharges requiring large cross sections, and hence these factors
will lead to the following consequences.
<!--[if !supportLists]-->(1) <!--[endif]-->Unless the link channels are lined, which will be a cost-prohibitive
proposition, will cause heavy seepage which will not only constitute loss of water under transfer but
may also create water logging conditions in certain areas.
<!--[if !supportLists]-->(2) <!--[endif]-->They are likely to cause substantial displacement of people giving
rise to problems of resettlement and rehabilitation. As the people to be displaced will be far from being
beneficiaries, there is bound to be resistance on their part.
<!--[if !supportLists]-->(3) <!--[endif]-->As these long link channels may pass through dense forest and
habitats of wildlife, their ecological consequences may be serious and substantive.
<!--[if !supportLists]-->(4) <!--[endif]-->Import of vast amount of water in arid or semi-arid areas may
adversely affect their dry land ecology.

JCE,BELGAUM Page 12


JCE,BELGAUM Page 13