"The scheme will transfer water in most efficient manner"

The water scarcity problem in India, especially during the non-monsoon months, is a result of uneven distribution of water over time and space. The variation in rainfall results in some rivers having a perennial flow while others go dry, save for a few days or months. India does not have a deficit of water resources, but the growing population has taken the demand to such heights resulting in deficiency of supply.
The per capita availability of water was 5.20 Th. cu. m per annum in 1950, which came down to 2.20 Th.cu.m in 1991. It was 1.80 Th.cu.m. in 2000 and is likely to reduce to 1.34 Th.cu.m. by 2025. We are marching steadily to a situation when a major part of our country would be water scarce. If measures are not taken now to avoid complications due to water scarcity, it can lead to an alarming situation when water itself initiates discontentment and consequently conflicts within the country weakening the unity.
Inter Linking of Rivers project does not mean connecting polluting rivers or an attempt to just link in an unintelligent manner. Such arguments are a pointer to a poor understanding of India's technical know-how and an unfortunate reflection that can only be casual and should be discarded. The programme is a transfer of water in the most efficient manner for the areas that needs it from the basins, which can spare. It is established global practice.
The Ganga-Brahmaputra-Meghna system accounts for more than 60 per cent of the run-off of our rivers. Due to this spatial and temporal variation of river flows during monsoons, most of the water in these systems causes immense flood losses, distress and misery to people. Clearly one of the answers to the water problem is to conserve the excess monsoon flows and wherever feasible use this water in areas which have inadequate rainfall and are drought prone.
Storage in Himalayan rivers also helps generation of eco-friendly hydro power. This is a great asset to the power grid, and will play a vital role in meeting peak power and stabilizing energy fluctuations. Nearly 30,000 mw capacity plants have been identified in some of the schemes planned in respect of Karnali (10,800 mw), Pancheshwar (6,480 mw), Sankosh (4,000 mw), and a few others like Kosi, Gandak, and Manas, under investigation.
Some of these feasibility studies need a review to factor the use of water optimally and is yet to be fine-tuned to account for the inter basin transfer. One has to also account for an energy need of similar magnitude for pumping requirements, as water has to be lifted in the overall schemes in a few cases.
Severe water shortage is envisaged since there will be an enormous pressure due to demands for food grain production in the order of 450-500 million tpa which requires to be supported by water for irrigation. Urbanisation will ask for further energy needs for domestic, industrial, transportation (metro rail, etc). Water transfer would enable cheap water transport as an alternative to land transportation like navigation, reviving stretches of rivers where the minimum flows are to be enhanced for genuinely established aquatic system needs.
Unless India embarks upon the water sector to deal with water problems, looks at its future problems holistically, emerge out of the thinking process that is governed by narrow and territorial or local interests, plan for long term, it may land the country in an avoidable distress for not only water, but also for food and energy. There will be a crisis in managing the industrial and infrastructure requirements by 2030.
The scheme, during implementation, would generate large-scale employment, create market for cement, steel and engineering equipment industries during construction phase. The banking and financing sector, management and all other related sectors would get an opportunity to contribute to that.
India has all the necessary technical, economic and financial strength and resources to implement this 'Project of the Century.' Once appropriate political environment is created the country can well handle the scheme in an admirable manner.
(M. Gopalakrishnan is President, the Indian Water Resources Society, and Secretary General, the International Commission on Irrigation and Drainage.)

"The massive plan will lead to Aral Sea type disasters"

Interlinking of rivers is the world's biggest project which entails rewriting the geography of the sub-continent. India occupies 2.45 per cent of the earth's surface and 72 per cent of South Asia. If one analyses the topography of the country, one can see that there can be no acceptable way of making a water network in the country as it entails diverting the natural course of the rivers, which would lead to several Aral Sea type disasters (where two Siberian rivers were diverted).
The National Commission for Water Resource Development, set up by the ministry of water resources under the chairmanship of S.R. Hashim, had submitted a report, namely the Integrated Water Resource Development Plan. The report says: "The Himalayan river linking data is not freely available, but on the basis of public information, it appears that the Himalayan river-linking component is not feasible for the period of review up to 2050."
Ganga, deemed as a "surplus" river is a trans-boundary river from which water is planned to be removed to relieve flood by means of barrage-canal works for transfer to Subarnarekha-Mahanadi-Godavari-Krishna-Pennar-Cauvery flows during monsoon flood at the average rate of 50,000 cumecs, creating an annual disaster.
However, the if flood is to be relieved, water in substantial quantity needs to be removed by means of the link canals that will "be 50 to 100 m wide and more than 6 m deep", according to government's website explaining the modus operandi of "benefits." When a 10 m deep 100 m wide lined canal can at most carry about 1,500 cumecs of water, that would relieve flood only to the extent of 3 per cent and that too only downstream of the canal.
In the present scheme of things, if the Himalayan links are not being taken up as per the Government of India's statement to Bangladesh, there is no reason to take up the peninsular links because Brahmaputra or Ganga water will not reach Godavari and the system of water supply to Cauvery will fail. The scheme appears to be poorly conceived and designed, and is unworkable. Therefore, claim of flood and drought relief is misplaced.
The ministry of water resources has prepared a master plan suggesting that the water requirements can be met through artificial recharge of the ground water at a very minimum cost compared to ILR. It was in the backdrop of rejection by a high powered committee, which has deemed the project undesirable that the GoI used the President of India to re-propose this project on August 14, 2002.
Besides, this project involves major international rivers such as the Ganga and the Brahmaputra with their tributaries. Even the peninsular component is linked with them through the Subarnarekha-Mahanadi and Mahanadi-Godabari links. The transfer of water from the Ganga and the Brahmaputra and their tributaries and distributaries will affect all co-riparian countries.
Bangladesh as the downstream country will be particularly affected immediately, whose deltaic ecology and economy depend crucially on the water of the Ganga, the Brahmaputra, and other international rivers that flow through India . The annual monsoon inundation is a normal feature of the delta formation process in Bangladesh, and hence it cannot be used as a ground for large-scale water transfer from these common rivers.
The withdrawal of the Ganga water at Farakka has already caused serious damage to the ecology and economy of south-western districts of Bangladesh, including the Sundarbans, the unique mangrove forests along the Bay of Bengal. Further withdrawal of water of the Ganga and the Brahmaputra, as envisioned, will threaten the country's economy and ecology, making it impossible for Bangladesh to concede to this project. Apart from presenting a considerable technical challenge, that of having to transfer the Brahmaputra and the Ganga waters, it will contravene basic principles of international law and their standard practices, and would adversely impact India's relationship with Bangladesh.
Earlier the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Water Resources had invited comments on the project from the public for a debate in Parliament, but even before any such thing happened an agreement on Ken-Betwa was signed between the states and the Central government. The parliamentary way of dealing with the subject implies that the document proposing this project must be put in public domain before seeking any comment on the subject and also allows the citizens of co-riparian countries to express their concerns. Therefore, the courts and the Parliament ought to take cognizance of the adverse ecological consequences of such a massive scheme.
(Gopal Krishna is Convener, WaterWatch, an alliance for sustainable water resources management.)