Can we divert Indus rivers to Rajasthan and Gujarat ?

[Mahakaal]

can we divert Indus Rivers (5) to Deserts of Gujarat and Rajasthan ?(legally or illegally )

if China can divert Brahmaputra river to East Turkestan province than we can should and we must divert Indus Rivers to our deserts.

 

[Mahakaal]

your views ?
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[Mahakaal]

Water crisis in Gujarat ad Rajasthan :

 

[Mahakaal]

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[Mahakaal]

your views ? .

 

[jackprince]

Diversion of the river in entirety? It will destroy so much of the states that it wouldn't be worth the effort. However, canals can be and is built to divert some of the water, and dams are also in process. Even china cannot divert the whole river flow from its natural path which will bring tremendous destruction down its path.

 

[Srinivas_K]

We should go for desalination of sea water which is available plenty.
Plus there are canals in that region. Modern technology offers plenty of option in this regard.

 

[Mahakaal]

Diversion of the river in entirety? It will destroy so much of the states that it wouldn't be worth the effort. However, canals can be and is built to divert some of the water, and dams are also in process. Even china cannot divert the whole river flow from its natural path which will bring tremendous destruction down its path.

not 100% bhai just 10-20% water.

 

[Mahakaal]

We should go for desalination of sea water which is available plenty.
Plus there are canals in that region. Modern technology offers plenty of option in this regard.

still it can not fulfill our needs

 

[Illusive]

Desalination plants in Gujarat, and pumping the water through canals should be the future way to do. Your idea will have negative impact on the downstream nation environmentally.

On top the glaciers are melting quickly and not only its is an enormous task, it'd be just waste of resources.

Water crisis will hit the sub continent by the end of the next decade and it will be very difficult time for us, with other problems too like refugee crisis. The problem with Desalination plants are very expensive to operate and countries like Bangladesh or even India might find it tough to field in large numbers. The trick would be to make it feasible.

 

[ezsasa]

Cannot divert the rivers in entirety but can divert the excess flood waters to man made reservoirs, similar to what Saibaba did in Kurnool (andhra Pradesh).

 

[Mad Indian]

Excellent Idea. Two birds in one stone- starves the piglets off water and gives us water for our desert which we can turn into arable cultivated lands.

I think we can ask the govt to set up a think tank for a feasibility study on this issue!

 

[Mad Indian]

Regarding the suggestion that desalination of water in these areas-

1. desalination of water from sea cant provide for land locked thar desert

2. Unlike the desalination plants, this will starve the Pakis off water, which I think is more important that the benefits of the water from such a project

 

[tarunraju]

No, but we still have quite some headroom in IWT with which we stay on the right side of the international law (not breach IWT), and yet make Pakis starve.

World Bank is a guarantor in IWT, so we can't breach it without significant economic/geo-political damage.

 

[LETHALFORCE]

India faces confluence of water management issues

http://atimes.com/2015/08/india-faces-confluence-of-water-management-issues/

 

[Simple_Guy]

All this has been thought of previously. The Rajasthan canal and the Gang canal are serving the dry areas of Rajasthan.

Gang Canal was built by Maharaja Ganga Singh of Bikaner way back in the 1920s, overriding opposition from British Punjab and Muslim Bahawalpur (modern pakistan).

 

[bengalraider]

Somewhat already in progress with the River Interlinking project, though we are not touching the Indus for now.
Simply because we do not need Indus water when the floodwaters from the yearly floods in the Gangetic plain are enough to water all of India. I remember attending a lecture by the then head of the Narmada water authority back in 2006 ,he told us that the Gangetic System alone had a yearly flow of over 80BCm(Billion cubic meters, where 1 cubic mt =1000litres). We need only around 5 BCM to fulfill the water needs of every Indian(industries included).
Once completed the river interlinking should boost agricultural GDP by 8%.

Planned Northern links

Planned southern links

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/...s-in-andhra-dedicated-to-people/1/458851.html
http://nrlp.iwmi.org/main/maps.asp

 

[bengalraider]

http://atimes.com/2015/08/india-faces-confluence-of-water-management-issues/
India faces confluence of water management issues
By Sudha Ramachandran on August 17, 2015 in South Asia

A few months from now, India will launch a grand plan to address its water woes. It will begin the inter-linking of its rivers, a large-scale engineering intervention to shift water from the flood prone Brahmaputra and lower Ganga basins in eastern India to the water-scarce western and southern India.

The first step towards operationalizing this project will be taken in December, when the Ken and the Betwa, both tributaries of the River Yamuna will be linked. Surplus waters of the Ken will be diverted via a 22-km-long canal to the Betwa.


Indian dam

The National River Linking Project (NRLP) includes two components; the Himalayan Rivers Development component and the Peninsular component. It envisages connecting 37 rivers across the country through 30 link canals of a total length of 14,000 kilometers. It will involve construction of nearly 3,000 storage dams too. Besides reducing the deadly impact of floods and providing water to drought-prone areas, proponents of the project claim it will generate 34,000 megawatts of electricity and irrigate an additional 35 million hectares of land in water-scarce western and southern India.

On the face of it, it is hard to disagree with the logic behind the NRLP. The problem is that this solution is not as simple as it seems. It is not just about diverting water. Water will have to be channeled through different terrains, topographies and elevations; it thus involves complex engineering.

It will involve enormous costs. According to government estimates in 2003, the project would cost US$120 billion. This was widely regarded then as a gross underestimation. A decade thereon, the cost is likely to have increased manifold.

There are other costs too. Experts warn that the project could trigger an ecological disaster. A river with a certain amount of water supports a certain flora and fauna, livelihood, etc. These will be affected by engineering a diversion of water.

Around 580,000 people face displacement. With loss of land comes loss of homes and livelihoods and the intensification of poverty. Animals too will lose their habitat. The Ken-Betwa link, for instance, will involve diversion of around 6,000 hectares of the Panna Tiger Reserve, home to 24 tigers. Millions of dollars have been spent by India to save the tiger from extinction. Why is the government spending millions more to kill them now, Tiger conservationists are asking. Besides, the Ken river is home to the critically endangered gharial, whose numbers could dwindle further with the change in ecology.

Critics of the NRLP point out that the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government is pressing ahead with the costly NRLP although there are several cost-effective alternatives such as rain water harvesting, watershed management, groundwater recharge, etc that could enhance the irrigation potential of India’s rivers.

In fact, environmentalists are questioning one of the core assumptions of the NRLP: the concept of ‘surplus’ and ‘deficit’ rivers. What is the basis for defining a river as ‘surplus’ or ‘deficit,’ they ask.

Within India, states whose rivers are to be diverted to water-deficient states are resisting the federal government’s grand plans. Why should they pay the price while other states benefit? Orissa is among the states that is asking such questions. As part of the Peninsular component, the waters of the Mahanadi, which flows through Chhattisgarh and Orissa, are to be diverted to the Godavari in Andhra Pradesh. But Orissa itself has several drought-prone districts, point out its officials. Besides, by 2051, the state will be water deficient.

Water is a state subject in India. The federal government will have to get the states on board its grandiose plan to inter-link rivers. This will not be easy.

Importantly, inter-linking transboundary rivers will have implications for India’s neighbors and thus for India’s relations with them. Nepal and Bangladesh have expressed concern.

India already has problems with Bangladesh over sharing of the waters of the River Ganga. These will intensify should the NRLP be implemented as it involves diverting water of the Ganga and the Brahmaputra, which will reduce the quantum of flow into Bangladesh.

Rather than solve India’s water problems, the NRLP could accentuate existing problems. Indeed, the project could trigger new conflicts and deepen existing ones.

Dr. Sudha Ramachandran is an independent journalist/researcher based in Bangalore, India who writes on South Asian political and security issues. She can be reached at [email protected]

(Copyright 2015 Asia Times Holdings Limited, a duly registered Hong Kong company. All rights reserved. Please contact us about sales, syndication and republishing.)

 

[maomao]

Excellent Idea!! If possible then nothing like it.

Divert all water to Gujarat and Rajasthan and I'm sure pakis will thank us eternally for pushing them one step forward towards becoming arabs, as pakistan will turn into a dessert and pakis will happily dress up like arabs, talk in arabic riding camels!!

Next step for becoming arab would be discovery of Oil, which they will never find, nonetheless they will be happy to be partially mutated into arabs - their religious and cultural masters!

 

[Screambowl]

let us not do it. as changing main course of river will destroy a lot of ecology , but yes we can divert some water collectively from satluj and narmada towards the desert.