Western
Ghats News
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Interlinking of rivers |
Hindu News Network Friday, Apr 04, 2003 |
Sir, — This has reference to the two-part article `Interlinking of rivers' by A. Vaidyanathan ( March 26 & March 27 ). The writer deserves credit for his evaluation of the proposed Rs. 5000 billion scheme. Not much knowledge is necessary to understand that there are several modest methods without environmental impacts or risks to achieve the purpose of water conservation/rain water harvesting/flood water harvesting, no matter the nomenclature or the modus operandi of the job. As the flood water levels of most of the rivers are 10 to 20 metres above the ordinary flow level and as millions of hectares of unutilised river basins exist, it is easy to convert such river basins as storage tanks to impound the flood and rain water and let it out during the lean periods in a regulated manner to maintain the river flow and to enrich the ground water availability. Joy Eapen, Sir, — Water becomes surplus during the rainy season and there is demand during summer. While transferring water from one point to another the following should be taken into consideration: the storage and storage point capacity for agricultural/drinking water need of the area, a detailed study of the geology, soil and its problems, a scientific irrigation system suited to the area for sustained yield and the impact on human displacement. The time taken for completing interlinking of rivers and the high cost of the programme will not be meaningful since our country is saddled with a huge public debt. D. Govindarajan, Sir, — Mr. Vaidyanathan has rightly identified many questions with an in-depth analysis of the proposed `Ganga-Cauvery river linking project'. The very concept of inter-basin diversion of water is very much questionable. Apart from socio-economic burdens and political repercussions, it poses several technological questions. Construction of miles of canals and tunnels across different valley systems may lead to excess seepage and leakage during transport. Such digging would result in the opening up of groundwater table. The `dams and reservoirs' would cause waterlogging conditions and soil salinity in the backwater region. The proposed west flowing river diversion schemes in Karnataka as part of this mega project may spoil the evergreen forest ecosystem of the Western Ghats. It may threaten the livelihood of millions of people in the downstream region due to low water-level and nutrition loss. |