The river interlinking project is on the fast track and work on at least four such projects is set to start soon, the Jal Shakti Ministry said in a written reply in Parliament. The Ken-Betwa, Damanganga-Pinjal, Par-Tapi-Narmada and Godavari-Cauvery links had been selected for preparing detailed project reports and the final reports for the first three projects had been sent to the respective states, the ministry said.

Initially, as many as 30 links were considered by the National Water Development Agency for the project under the government’s National Perspective Plan (NPP). Out of these, 14 involved the Himalayan component and 16 involved the peninsular component.

What is river interlinking?

The National River Linking Project envisages the transfer of water from ‘surplus’ basins where there is flooding, to ‘deficit’ basins where there is drought / scarcity, through inter-basin water transfer projects.

What’s the definitional problem?

* ‘Surplus’ means that extra water available in a river after it meets the humans’ requirement of irrigation, domestic consumption and industries, thereby underestimating the need of the water for the river itself.

* The term ‘deficit’ has also been viewed in terms of humans only and not from the river’s perspective, which includes many other factors.

History behind river interlinking

* In October 2002, the Supreme Court ordered the central government to initiate work on interlinking major rivers of the country.

* In the same year, a task force was appointed and a deadline of 2016 was set to complete the entire project that would link 37 rivers.

Scope of the project

The National River Linking Project will comprise of 30 links to connect 37 rivers through a network of nearly 3,000 storage dams to form a gigantic South Asian Water Grid. It includes two components…

Himalayan component

This component aims to construct storage reservoirs on the Ganga and Brahmaputra as well as their tributaries in India and Nepal.

The aim is to conserve monsoon flows for irrigation and hydropower generation, along with flood control.

The linkage will transfer surplus flows of the Kosi, Gandak and Ghagra to the west. A link between the Ganga and Yamuna is proposed to transfer surplus water to the drought-prone areas of Haryana, Rajasthan and Gujarat.

Southern Water Grid

It includes 16 links that propose to connect the rivers of South India. It envisages linking the Mahanadi and Godavari to feed the Krishna, Pennar, Cauvery and Vaigai rivers. This linkage will require several large dams and major canals to be constructed. Besides this, the Ken river will also be linked to the Betwa, Parbati, Kalisindh and Chambal rivers.

Proposed benefits

* Hydropower generation

* Expanded irrigation

* Round-the-year navigation

* Employment generation

* Resolution of droughts and floods

* Ecological benefits as dried-up forests and lands will be replenished

The opposition

* Some experts have questioned the merits of the interlinking projects citing lack of holistic assessment of social-ecological impacts such as water-logging, salinisation and the resulting desertification.

* Concerns about sediment management, especially on the Himalayan system, loom large. When the idea is to transfer water from the ‘surplus’ Himalayan river systems to ‘deficit’ basins of the southern part of India, the differential sediment regime defining the flow regimes need to be plugged into the equation. This will entail changes in ecosystem structures in both parts.

* Damming India’s east coast rivers to take their water westwards will curtail downstream flooding and thereby, the supply of sediment - a natural nutrient - destroying fragile coastal ecosystems and causing coastal and delta erosion.

* The spirit of federalism is ignored in the river interlinking project. There is dissent on the part of some state governments (Kerala).

* A new analysis of rainfall data reveals that monsoon shortages are growing in river basins with surplus water and falling in those with scarcities.

* This raises questions about the Rs 11 lakh crore plan to transfer water from ‘surplus’ to ‘deficit’ basins.

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