The river confluence project is environmentally difficult and economically unfeasible. Therefore, demand and supply of water should be managed instead.
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Conflicting situations are being witnessed in different parts of India regarding water environment. The states of Bihar, West Bengal and Assam are flooded. The rivers Brahmaputra in Assam and Kosi in northeastern Bihar have caused severe damage to livelihoods, finances and natural ecosystems. These rivers have greatly affected the connectivity of the northeastern states with the rest of India. Rising water levels in the Kosi River on Nepal's border have forced Nepal to open dams. North Bihar has to bear the brunt of it.
Wet and dry drought
The second phase of the water environment you see in Northwest, West and South India. There is a drought-like situation. Monsoon rains from the southwest supply water to the coastal areas of India. But the late arrival this year has caused irreparable damage to agriculture. This is exacerbated by water scarcity in urban areas. Such a situation has never arisen in this area, it is special. The South Asian region is considered to be prosperous in terms of water resources. However, it also showed how the economy of a fast-growing city like Chennai could stagnate if natural resources were depleted.
How to reconcile this contradiction ?
Against the backdrop of this conflicting state of the water environment, the cries of the river connection project are being heard again. The project is to divert water from river basins with abundant water to river basins in scarcity or drought prone areas. Of course, this project is environmentally difficult and economically unfeasible. The conflicting extremes of the environment are a part of nature. However, man is largely responsible for its consequences. In fact, unless there is solid evidence based on long-term statistics, it is not appropriate to link the occasional difference in rainfall in some areas directly to climate change. It can be seen as an anomaly caused by certain elements in the natural ecosystem. However, we should not ignore the damage done to society by such discrepancies.
Let us first take the example of flood. It is an annual event in the cycle of nature, which gives us some important things in the form of floods. When the floodwaters recede, it carries rich silt soil on its back. Which is very important for agriculture. The silt carried with the flow helps to create naturally fertile soil. There are some swampy plains in nature to quench the flood waters. This is the first step in the process of injecting flood water into the ground.
In recent times, these silt plains have been used extensively in Assam and North Bihar for different purposes. As a result, the silt is lost and the ability of the soil to absorb water is reduced. Moreover, the human settlements on the flood plains are growing rapidly. These encroachments are being encouraged in one way or another by building dams. A major example of this is the embankment in the Kosi river, which burst due to a large body of water.
The swampy land disappears
Due to nature's broken umbilical cords and neglect of traditional information available about rivers, very useful systems such as silt plains are disappearing. As a result, floods have become a catastrophic disaster without being an important and annual process of nature. The flood is beginning to be seen from that point of view. It has become clear that the unprecedented water scarcity in South India, especially in Chennai, is due to the careless construction of the sludge.
The productivity of groundwater reserves in western and southern India is very low compared to the Ganga river basin. As South India is a rocky region, the rate of infiltration is very slow. This naturally hinders the rise in groundwater level.
A report released by the country's Accountant General (CAG) on the aftermath of the 2015 floods in South India has slammed the rampant construction in the coastal region. Between 1979 and 2016, the area under water has decreased by 2,389 acres. These massive encroachments hit Chennai hard. The ability to absorb flood water was reduced. Already limited groundwater growth sources were cut off and Chennai's water resources were depleted.
Drought in agriculture can be easily tackled by choosing the right type of crop and making changes in the crop. However, at least the guaranteed price did not allow that to happen.
Water requirement management
Crops like sorghum and millet can also be grown on low water. Wheat and rice, on the other hand, require a lot of water. However, due to relatively low prices of sorghum and bajra, farmers tend to take up crops like wheat and rice which require abundant water even in times of scarcity. This increases water scarcity and also damages crops and farmers.
Subsidies on electricity and irrigation for agriculture are also one of the reasons for wastage of water. Therefore, the government has no choice but to divert agricultural water to urban industries. According to recent research, this not only increases agricultural productivity, but also meets the water needs of urban India. The Supreme Court, while hearing the Cauvery water dispute in February 2018, has also approved this option.
In short, the current paradox of water resources is natural. However, the result is man-made. Floods and droughts complement each other and are part of a broader ecological cycle. They should be seen as a component of nature's regenerative process. It is wrong to handle them with human intervention in the form of river confluence projects. Such projects will completely change the flow of rivers. The result will be beyond your imagination. It will cause great damage to the natural ecosystem.
We are experiencing it through dams and dams. One has to understand the changes in nature without trying to control it. Managing water demand and supply will be the best water policy..
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