Brimming reservoirs create flood scare

Most rivers and reservoirs now have much more water than what they had in the past few years, creating a huge flood scare, reports Chetan Chauhan.

Updated on: Jul 4, 2007, 24:50:02 IST

Hindustan Times | By Chetan Chauhan, New Delhi

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Monsoon showers this year have created a problem of plenty for the state governments. Most rivers and reservoirs now have much more water than what they had in the past few years, creating a huge flood scare if it rains as per the prediction of the meteorological department.

Of the 71 large reservoirs monitored by the Central Water Commission (CWC), 41 has water storage of more than 20 per cent of the capacity. Ideally, it should not be more than 10 per cent, said Himanshu Thakkar of South Asian Network of Dams, Rivers and People.

Commission member (Water Planning and Projects) BS Ahuja said discharge of water from reservoirs is duty of the state governments. And, it varies from reservoir to reservoir depending on monsoon predictions by Indian Meteorological Department (IMD). “The discharge of water also depends on demand of water for agriculture,” he said.

This year the summer rainfall in western and northern part of India was 20-25 per cent more than the last few years, resulting in more water in reservoirs and river, the IMD officials said. The extra rain also lowered the demand of water for irrigation purposes, thereby resulting in lesser discharge of water. Some northern states still discharged more water anticipating good monsoon, a commission official said.

Many western states, which don’t receive heavy monsoon shower, didn’t release sufficient water, thus creating a flood situation with
arrival of the rains.

The CWC data indicate most reservoirs in Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Gujarat have more water than the last few years. For instance, Isapur reservoir has 44 per cent water of its capacity as compared to only five per cent last year. Parts of Maharashtra received 172 cm of rainfall since Monday night causing flooding and large-scale destruction.

The Central Water Commission data shows major rivers such as Ganga, Indus, Mahi and Godavari have water much more than the average of the last 10 years. As on 21 June, Ganga had 23.61 per cent of its storage capacity as compared to just 8.10 per cent last year. Similarly, Mahi has 37 per cent as compared to 30 per cent last year.

If it rains like it did in Maharashtra and Gujarat on Monday night, the rivers with access water would soon be a cause for flooding in northern India as well.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Chetan Chauhan
Chetan Chauhan is the National Affairs Editor looking into all aspects of news and features from across India. A Chevening scholar with over three decades of experience in reporting and news management, Chetan has extensively covered all important aspects of the social sector, political economy, environment and climate change nationally and internationally. He did a journalism course at the Reuters Institute of Journalism in Oxford and Digital Media training at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. He started as a reporter with The Statesman in 1996 and joined the Hindustan Times in 2000 in the metro bureau covering environment, crime and Delhi politics. He covered hot local news, from the Jessica Lal murder case to the rebellion of Delhi Congress MLAs against then Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, to the replacement of toxic vehicle fuel with cleaner compressed natural gas (CNG) in the national capital. Some of his stories on air pollution became part of the Supreme Court’s landmark MC Mehta versus Government of India case in the National Capital Region (NCR), forcing the government to take corrective measures. As part of the national political bureau since 2004, he covered important central sectors such as environment, education, social justice, labour, rural development, water resources, renewable energy, agriculture, broadcasting and the Planning Commission for more than a decade producing several exclusive and investigative breaking stories. His specialisation is the environment, having covered at least a dozen United Nations global conferences on climate change, biodiversity and wildlife including climate summits in Paris, Copenhagen and Bali. He also covered India’s two five-year plans ---11th and 12th and reported on drafting and execution of right based laws such as Right to Education, Right to Information and rural job guarantee law, MG-NREGA, now being introduced in new format as VG-RAM-G Act. He has in-depth knowledge of social sector issues. He was one of the first to report on tigers vanishing from Sariska and Panna wildlife reserves in 2004 and 2008, respectively, leading to the setting up of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and the introduction of stringent penal provisions for poaching. He has written extensively on the rising human-animal conflict in India and the degradation of India’s biodiversity hotspots because of mining and other activities. Since 2004, Chetan has covered Parliament comprehensively and participated in training on the nuanced coverage of Parliament proceedings. He has travelled extensively across India to cover national and provincial elections since 1998, especially in the Hindi heartland states, considered India’s road to power. He writes a regular column for Hindustan Times, Ecostani, on important national politics, economy, Himalayan ecology and environmental issues. His other responsibilities include providing inputs for edits and edit page articles for the publication, apart from managing news flow from across India.Read More

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