This presentation highlights the concept of river interlinking, National River Linking Project(NRLP) of India, socio economic benefits, issues and possible alternatives of river interlinking.

2. Socio Economic Transformation
River Interlinking Projects for
SHAILESH
PALB 9167
Sr. M.Sc.
Dept. of Agri. Extension, University of Agricultural Sciences, GKVK, Bengaluru

3. Introduction
 India accounts for 2.4% of the
world’s surface area but
supports 16.7% of the world’s
population.
 India possesses meager 4% of
world’s water resources, that
too highly uncertain in time and
space due to its climate.
 Still, India possesses dismal per
capita storage capacity
compared to those countries
where rainfall is more or less
evenly distributed in time and
space.

4. Per capita storage in cum
 Per capita storage capacity in North America, Russia, Australia,
China are respectively 6150, 6013,4729 and 2486 cubic meter,
the same in India is only 262 cubic meter.

5. Regional rainfall variation
 The rainfall over the country is
primarily orographic, associated
with tropical depressions
originating in the Arabian Sea
and the Bay of Bengal.
 The summer monsoon accounts
for >85 % of the precipitation.
 Large parts of HR, MH, AP,
Rajasthan, Gujarat, MP, Karnataka
and TN are not only in deficit in
rainfall but also results in frequent
droughts and causing immense
hardship to the population and
enormous loss to the nation.

6.  Regional variations in the
rainfall lead to a situations
when some parts of the
country do not have enough
water even for raising a single
crop.
 The water availability even for
drinking purposes becomes
critical, particularly in the
summer months as the rivers
dry up and the ground water
recedes.
 On the other hand excess
rainfall occurring in some parts
of the country create havoc
due to floods.

7. Increasing population and food demand
 The population of India, which is around 1200 million at
present, is expected to increase to 1500 to 1600 million in the
year 2050 and that would require about 450 million tonnes of
food grains.
 For meeting this requirement, it would be necessary to
increase irrigation potential to 160 million hectares for all
crops by 2050.

8. Decreasing trend in per capita
availability of water

9. Control of floods and droughts
 Floods are a recurring feature, particularly in Brahmaputra and Ganga
rivers, in which almost 60 % of the river flows of our country occur.
 Flood damages, which were Rs.52 crores in 1953, have gone up to
Rs.5,846 crores in 1998 with annual average being Rs.1,343 crores
affecting the States of Assam, Bihar, WB and UP along with untold
human sufferings.
 On the other hand large areas in the States of Rajasthan, Gujarat, AP,
Karnataka and TN face recurring droughts. As much as 85 % of drought
prone area falls in these states.

10. Objectives
To know the concept of river interlinking and
history of river interlinking projects in India
To understand the issues related to
river interlinking projects
To review the related research studies
To know the expected socio economic
benefits of river interlinking projects

11. River Interlinking
 River interlinking is a project of
linking two or more rivers by
creating a network of manually
created canals, and providing
water to the land areas that
does not have river water
access and reducing the flow of
water to sea using this means.
 It is based on the assumptions
that surplus water in some
rivers can be diverted to
deficit rivers by creating a
network of canals to
interconnect the rivers.

12. Global river interlink projects
1. Rhine–Main–Danube Canal
(The Europa Canal):
 Completed in 1992 and
is 171km long.
 It provides a navigable artery
between the Rhine delta in the Netherlands to the Danube Delta in
eastern Romani by interlinking the Main river to the Danube river, thus
connecting North Sea and Atlantic Ocean to the Black Sea.
 In 2010, the inter-link provided navigation for 5.2 million tonnes of
goods, reducing the need for 2,50,000 truck trips per year. Canal is
also a source for irrigation, industrial water and power generation
plant.

13. Global river interlink projects
2. Tennessee – Tombigbee Waterway
 It is a 377 kilometre man-made
waterway that interlinks the Tennessee
river to the Black Warrior-Tombigbee
river in the US.
 The Tenn–Tomb waterway links major
coal producing regions to coal
consuming regions and serves as
commercial navigation for coal and
timber products.
 It has 17 public ports and terminals,
1,10,000 acres of land, and another
88,000 acres managed by state
conservation agencies for wildlife habitat
preservation and recreational use.

14. Global river interlink projects
 Completed in 1949, interlinks 8 rivers, and is located along the Gulf
Coast of the United States.
 It is a navigable inland waterway running approximately 1700
kilometres from Florida to Texas.
 It is the third busiest waterway in the United States, handling 70
million tonnes of cargo per year.
 A major low cost, ecologically friendly and low carbon footprint way
to import, export and transport raw materials and products in the
United States.
3. Gulf Intracoastal Waterway

15. History of River Interlinking Projects in India
1972 - Ganga cauvery link proposed by Dr. K.L.Rao
1974 - “Garland canal” proposal by captain Dastur
1980 - Ministry of water resources frames the National
Perspective Plan(NPP)
1982 - The National Water Development Agency (NWDA) set
up to carry out pre – feasibility studies
1999 - A National Commission for Integrated Water Resources
Development Plan (NCIWRDP) set up to review NWDA

16. Aug 15, 2002 - President Abdul Kalam mentions the need for
river linking in his independence day speech
Oct 2002 - Supreme court recommends that the government
formulate a plan to link the major Indian rivers by the year
2012
Dec 2002 - Govt. appointed a task force on interlinking of 37
rivers led by Mr. Suresh Prabhu. The deadline was revised to
2016
History of River Interlinking Projects in India

17. National River Linking Project in India
 The National River Linking Project
(NRLP) is proposed large-scale civil
engineering project designed to
ease water shortages in western and
southern India while mitigating the
impacts of recurrent floods in the
eastern parts of the Ganga basin by
linking rivers by a network of
reservoirs and canals .
 The project is being managed
by India's National Water
Development Agency (NWDA),
under its Ministry Jal Shakti.

18. Contours of NRLP…
 Divided into two components:
1.Himalayan component (14 links)
2. Peninsular component (16 links)
 Building 3000 small and large
reservoirs, 12,500 km of canals to
link 36 Himalayan and Peninsular
rivers to effect 174 bm3 of inter-
basin water transport.
 35 million ha of new irrigated
area; 35GW of hydro-capacity;
navigation and flood control
benefits.
 Gestation Period: Proposed=2016;
Most Likely=2050

19.  Rs 12,00,000cr. at 2013-14 prices; 1.4% of India’s GDP
to be spent for 7.5 years.
Estimated cost

20. Cost of NRLP with indian GDP

21. Himalayan Development
 The northern component consist of a series of dams built along
the Ganga and Brahmaputra rivers in India, Nepal and Bhutan for
the purposes of storage.
 Canals would be built to transfer surplus water from the eastern
tributaries of the Ganga to the west.
 The Brahmaputra and its tributaries would be linked with the
Ganga and the Ganga with the Mahanadi river.
 This part of the project would provide additional irrigation for
about 2,20,000 square kilometers and generate about 30 GW of
electricity.

23. Peninsular Development
 First, the Mahanadi, Godavari, Krishna and Kaveri rivers would
all be linked by canals. Extra water storage dams would be built
along the course of these rivers. The purpose of this would be
to transfer surplus water from the Mahanadi and Godavari
rivers to the south of India.
 Second, those rivers that flow west to the north of Mumbai and
the south of Tapi river would be linked. The water would be
used by the urban areas of Bombay and also to provide
irrigation in the coastal areas of Maharashtra

24. Peninsular Development
 Third, the Ken and Chambal rivers would be linked in order to
provide better water facilities for Madhya Pradesh and Uttar
Pradesh.
 Finally a number of west-flowing rivers along the Western
Ghats simply discharge into the Arabian Sea.
 The Peninsular part of the project would provide additional
irrigation to 1,30,000 square kilometers and generation an
additional 4GW of power.

26. Present status of NRLP
Under peninsular component :
 Detailed Project Report (DPR) of Godavari-Cauvery link project consisting
of three links have been completed.
 Draft DPR - 3 projects.
 Feasibility Report (FR) – 7
 Pre Feasibility Report (PFR) – 3
Under Himalayan component:
 Feasibility Report (FR) – 11
 Pre Feasibility Report (PFR) – 3
 On 16th September 2015, first linking was completed of rivers Krishna
and Godavari. It is still under review. But it isn't considered as a true
river interlinking as it is just a small lift irrigation with few lines of pipes.
 On 22nd March 2021 Chief Ministers of MP and UP signed a
memorandum of agreement to implement the Ken Betwa Link Project,
the first project of the National Perspective Plan for interlinking of rivers.

27. Socio economic benefits of NRLP
 Irrigation - By linking of rivers vast amount of land areas which
does not have otherwise irrigated and unusable for agriculture
become fertile.

28. Increase in food grain Production

29. Socio economic benefits of NRLP
 Flood prevention – By creating network of rivers flood &
drought problem can be greatly avoided by channelling excess
water to areas that are not experiencing a flood or are dry.

30.  Generation of electricity - With
new canals built, feasibility of
new DAMS to generate
hydroelectric power becomes a
possibility.

31. Economic value of hydro power

32.  Drinking Water - Majority of our
population will get drinking water;
Special emphasis is that all the cities
connected by Golden quadrilateral
project will get drinking water

33.  Navigation - Newly created network of canals opens up new
routes and ways of water navigation, which is generally more
efficient and cheaper compared to road transport.
 Business Opportunities – It is expected to generate large scale
business opportunities in manufacture of mechanical equipments,
earthmovers, stone crushers, power shovels, other transportation
vehicles, etc.
 In addition, this project would also require large scale
manufacturing of construction materials such as an estimated 56
million tones of cement and 2 million tonnes of steel etc.

34.  Enabling full use of existing irrigation projects
 Revenue - The government is expecting revenues from benefits
of navigating through waters, increased tourism, joint ventures,
private initiatives and cess on waters.
 Reduce diversity between the water surplus and water scarce
parts of India

35.  Higher GDP Growth - By interlinking rivers, there will be a
boost and increased employment in agricultural sector, power,
transportation; construction etc. Interlinking can increase the
GDP by 5 to 6 %.

36. Issues related to river interlinking projects
 Intensive irrigation in unsuitable
soils will lead to water logging and
salinity.
 Highly polluted rivers will spread
toxicity to other rivers.
 Ecological issues – Major concern
being the argument that rivers
change their course in 70–100
years and once they are linked,
future change of course can
create huge practical problems for
the project.

37.  Areas getting submerged -
Possibility of new dams
comes with the threat that
habitable or reserved land
getting submerged under
water.
 50,000ha of forest to be
submerged only by
peninsular link.
 Deforestation – Creation of
canals would need large
areas of land resulting large
scale deforestation in
certain area.

38.  Aqua life – A number of environmentalists are of the opinion
that the project could be an ecological disaster.
 There would be a decrease in downstream flows resulting in
reduction of fresh water inflows into the seas seriously
jeopardizing aquatic life.
 Displacement of people – As large strips of land have to be
converted to canals, a considerable population living in this areas
must need to be rehabilitated to new areas.
 Technical feasibility- The slope, altitude and other topographical
aspects have to be considered.

39. Alternatives to Indian river linking
 Rain water harvesting and
conservation of water resources :
Changes in topography, soil system
and runoff flow pattern in a
changing climatic environment is
considered. Not only stored rain
water but soil erosion is also
prevented.
 Recharging ground water reservoir:
Skills have to be developed for
arresting rain water where it falls
and allowing it to recharge these
ground water reservoirs.

40.  Community participation:
Approaches of reducing water
consumption by the affluent
in the cities and reducing the
wastage of water by the
farmers in their field can be
attempted.
 Maintaining existing irrigation
Infrastructure: The irrigation
efficiencies are low at around
35% at best. Even 10% increase in
irrigation efficiency could lead to
additional irrigation potential of
14 M Ha.

41.  Virtual Water Trade: Water-
rich countries should produce
and export water-intensive
commodities to water- scarce
countries, thereby enabling
the latter to divert their
precious water resources to
alternative, higher-productivity
uses.
 Existing water storage: Need
to enhance our water-storage
capacity, as we suffer the
most from the vagaries of the
monsoon.

42. Research Study
National River Linking Project of India
Joshi, N (2013)

43.  Summary of Findings of the SAIRLP
Phase I:
 Future water demand is projected to be increased by 22% and 30%
in 2025 and 2050 respectively
 The options are: rainwater harvesting, ground water recharge, water
saving technologies, carefully crafted virtual water trade
 Inter basin water transfer will increase ground water recharge
 At a time when there will be full impact of climate change, the NRLP
will produce great benefits
Phase II:
 Inadequate detailed planning in the proposed links
 The existing cropping pattern is of higher value than the proposed
one
 Conflict of interests among the stakeholders across the basin will be
more complex
 Properly designed rehabilitation and relief packages
 Land acquisition must be handled with care

44.  Summary of Findings of the SAIRLP
Phase III:
 Improving water productivity
 Water demand management
 Ground water recharge and water harvesting
 Replacing long duration crops with short duration crops
 Growing crops where yields are higher due to climatic advantages
 Improving the quality of irrigation water supply

45. Case study
Benefits of Irrigation Water Transfers
in the National River Linking Project:
Ken-Betwa Link
Amarasinghe, U A et al., 2008

48. Conclusion
 The proposed NRLP, if completed, will be the biggest water
transfer project in the world. It will have financial, social and
environmental implications and repercussions on a gigantic
scale.
 But there are many factors not considered or the factors
considered are not relevant and realistic.
 Considering the pragmatic view of all the issues raised it can be
concluded that implementation of this ambitious scheme is not
possible in foreseeable future. Hence it can be a better option
to concentrate on the local resources and think upon the
alternatives available.

49. Conclusion