There are no other scientific and technological challenges for Bihar other than river water management combating flood by generating huge reservoirs and canal system and linking all other rivers to major rivers. Finally Bihar should have smart waterways.
Bihar waterways
Bihar waterways are a technological challenge. Fortunately Bihar is not short of water. Many times Bihar gets much more water than it can handle. Hence, we have to harness the available water and manage it, so that Bihar not only becomes a granary of India through irrigation but also gets electricity, inland water transport system using smart waterways, able to control floods and manage the river basins.
When we study the map of Bihar, we find that Ganga runs in the middle of Bihar as it is a valley. The level being around 70 meters above MSL and the ground both sides, north and south rises to nearly 100 to 300 meters MSL. Hence, the Ganga water as such cannot be used for irrigation in Bihar due to height difference. However, for many years, there is heavy flood in Ganga causing severe damage to north Bihar. The solution for this is networking of rivers and water bodies to run a waterway which is at a higher level using the trapped water from the tributaries of Ganga for use in irrigation and drinking. The existing channels should be desilted.Bihar river systems
Ganga river is flowing from West to East in Bihar. There are two types of flows coming into the Ganga. The northern rivers emanating from the Himalayas and another from the southern rivers coming from the Chhotanagpur plateau and Hazaribagh plateau. The major rivers coming from North-South are Ghaghara, Gandak, Bagmati, Kareh, Kosi and Mahanadhi. The rivers coming from the South are Son, Punpun, Phalgu, Dhadhar and Badua. Because of the flow from both the directions no water is saved and everything goes to the Sea. Also, the main flood bearing river the Kosi when it comes into Bihar is already in the plains and we have to find innovative flood management techniques with intensive international co-operation. We have seen 2008 Koshi river flood which has deviated from the normal path due to the sudden flood and inflicted enormous amount of damage to the people of Bihar and their belongings and also damaged the land and properties.
Layered Wells: In the Gangetic region, I have recommended construction of layered wells in the entry points of Kosi river in. Normally the flood water has certain dynamic flow conditions. The layered wells assist gradual reduction in dynamic flow velocity after filling each storage well. The water thus stored will be useful during shortage period. Similar solution can be found for the north-eastern region. I have recommended this scheme can be included in the Interlinking of rivers programme.
However, I have suggested to Bihar Assembly to mitigate Bihar from the fury of the floods it will be essential to undertake the following measures.
(a)Recovering the all the water bodies from encroachments using satellite maps.
(b)All the village ponds be immediately de-silted along with clearance of inlet and outlet and revived in the Gangetic basin.
(c)Carrying out the dredging of the rivers from the center so that the riverbed is below the adjoining land area.
(d)Raising the protection wall for the wells slightly above the normal flood water level so that the debris does not fill the wells during floods and drinking water is available immediately after the floods.
(e)Creating check dams so that water can be retained in the drought prone southern Bihar.
(f)For protecting the cities, create channelization, embankment and diversion channels up-streams.
(g)Encouraging fishing in the ponds so that it can generate revenue for the farmers. This activity can be linked to a mission of Bihar of doubling fish production through introduction of modern production technologies, developing innovative strategies and approaches and taking effective conservation measures.Development of smart waterways
What Bihar needs, as visualized, is a major waterway covering 500 kms length. This will connect the whole state with all other cross canals. In addition, for making effective use of the total waterway potential existing canals and river water systems are required to be improved to make it into smart waterway systems. A smart waterway will have the characteristics such as: sufficient navigable depth and width; conditions will permit navigation throughout the year; have smooth bends and minimum siltation; be able to navigate at least 18 hours per day; cater for efficient loading and unloading points; and the waterway should be adequately lighted and equipped with modern navigational and communication aids. This facility will enable the State to take advantage of the energy efficiency of transportation through waterways which is double of railways and eight times the road transportation system for a given load. This will also reduce the congestion on the road, and improve the environmental conditions and aforestation.
The creation of such a smart waterway, will act as an additional reservoir for the state. It is essential to build the intermediate dams in the cross section of the rivers and the waterways, which creates the balancing waterways. This will provide irrigation facility to over 5 million acres enable generation of 1000 MWs of power and provide employment for 9 million people. These measures could also reduce the severity of floods by fast disposal of flood water and also ensure storage of surplus water for future use.
The geologists, cartographers, civil engineers, structural specialists, hydraulic engineers and environmentalists assembled here may like to work together with the Bihar govt in drawing a comprehensive plan for the creation of Bihar waterways which will provide a total societal transformation to Bihar within the next decade.
No comments:
Post a Comment