NAVDANYA

 

River Interlinking

The History

Reviving the idea

The big picture

Where is the water

Killing rivers

These rivers do have massive flood flows - estimated at 30,000 to 60,000 cubic metres of water per second (cusec) during a few days in the monsoon. The plan envisions tapping these flood flows, storing these in the reservoirs and draining this water over thousands of kms of canals to "parched" agricultural lands in Southern, Western, and Central India . While this may sound good, the fine analysis reveals that only 1,500 cusec water is to be lifted from a total flood flow of 60,000 cusec. How lifting on 2.5% of the water flow can solve, or even mitigate floods is a mystery. The other issue not being raised is why water rich riparian states like the Cauvery basin and Cauvery delta are today "parched" and water-scarce.

Capturing all the water of a river and stopping its natural flow to divert it outside the basin is tantamount to killing it. Countries with a history of playing around with rivers and trying to control them, are now investing billions of dollars to restore them by removing darns and embankments. In the US alone, more than 100 dams were removed between 1999 and 2002. In 2001, over 115 miles of the river Baraboo were restored in Wisconsin. Attempts are now onto revive the Colorado in the Southwestern US as its waters dry up before reaching the ocean. An $ 8 billion plan has been passed in California to revive some of its rivers. In Spain , protests have stalled the second phase of water transfer from the Ebro river to the country's south.