3/13/12

The Hindu : Toda 's Paper / OPINION : A river sutra, without links

Today's Paper

OPINION

A river sutra, without links

Bharat Dogra

On February 27 while giving the go-ahead to the controversial project of inter-linking of rivers, the Supreme Co specifically mentioned the benefits flood control and drought moderation As plans for inter-basin transfers o across vast distances, from surplus to deficit areas, appear to have got a lot of attraction for a country exposed often to droughts and floods, these need to be seriously evaluated and debated. As such while large-scale transfe water can be expensive, we should also explore whether there are cheaper and better alternatives.

The idea of inter-basin transfers is based on the assumption that certain surplus (flood-prone) and deficit (drou prone) areas exist so that water is readily available without any objection to transfer from the former to the lat in practice, people in so-called surplus areas do not agree that they have spare water which can be transferred t other, faraway areas.

At a time when there are problems relating to the sharing of waters, transfer of water across distant areas can e aggravate these tensions. This should be avoided. Issue of climate change

Any neat division between deficit and surplus areas becomes more of a problem in these times of climate ch when erratic weather patterns are more frequently seen. Some time ago we had a curious situation when arid, parts of western India (including Rajasthan) had excess rain and experienced floods while flood-prone parts of India (including Assam) had drought-like conditions. If billions had already been spent to create an infra-struc from transferring surplus water from east to west, just imagine what a difficult situation would have arisen at t time of such erratic weather.

So the basic conditions of problem-free transfer of water from the country's surplus to deficit areas simply d exist. The tensions are likely to be much greater when inter-basin transfers also involve neighbouring countries reality that cannot be avoided in the existing geography of national-level links as many rivers pass through othe countries. As soon as the grand looking river-linking plans are transferred from paper to reality, we enter the re world of shifting rivers bringing enormous siltloads, landslides, hills, plateaus, seismic belts, gorges, ravines, be and curves which make the task of large-scale transfer of water difficult, enormously expensive, energy-intensiv hazardous. If rivers had been created by engineers and not by nature, they would have flowed along predictable straight paths to suit our needs. But rivers do not generally like to abide by the wishes and commands of engine Even when the might of modern technology forces them to do so, they sometimes seek revenge in very destructi ways breaking free and causing floods.
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Of course no one has had the time and inclination to explore how the bio-diversity flourishing in a particular ri

3/13/12

The Hindu : Toda 's Paper / OPINION : A river sutra, without links

system will react when it is linked to another river. But the problems faced by the vast majority who are advers affected by dams and displacements of this gigantic river-linking project have to be faced surely and squarely.

This brings us to the question of whether safer, less disruptive and cheaper alternatives are available for reduci distress of floods and droughts. Evidence suggests that even villages which experience very low rainfall, as in th desert areas of Rajasthan, have evolved a range of local methods of water conservation and collection which, if followed up carefully, take them towards water self-sufficiency to a large extent. It is true that in modern times is pressure leading to the breakdown or inadequacy of some of these self-reliant systems. Nevertheless it can be that a combination of traditional water-collection/conservation practices and other drought-proofing methods which also use modern technology still provides the best available answer (also the cheapest one) to water sc in drought-prone areas.

In the case of flood-prone areas we should not ignore the resilience of local communities where people learnt fro early childhood how to cope with rising rivers. Their ability has been adversely affected by increasing drainage obstruction created by thoughtless development works because of which floods sometimes become more fierc creating prolonged water logging. So what people really need is a good drainage plan so that flood water clea quickly combined with a package of livelihood, health, education and other support suited to the needs of flo prone areas and communities. This will work out much cheaper and more effective than all the dams, diversion embankments put together. So the question of what people of drought-prone areas and flood-prone areas really should be taken in consultation with them. Do they want huge water diversions and transfers with all their dam displacements, or do they prefer more funds for trusted, small-scale local solutions? (The i e i a f eelance jo nali i ing on de elopmen i e .) There are less disruptive and cheaper alternatives than connecting rivers to reduce the miser floods and droughts.
Sha e

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