Water Resources Test - 12

Farakka Barrage was constructed by Hindustan Construction Company(HCC) on the river Hooghly.  It lies in the district of Malda and Murshidabad. Its main purpose is to prevent sediment deposition on the Port of Kolkata by diverting water from Ganga to Hooghly.

The Bhakra – Nangal project water is being used both for hydel power production and irrigation. It is a joint venture of Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan governments.

Govind Sagar Lake is situated in Bilaspur district of Himachal Pradesh. It is a man-made reservoir. It was built on Sutlej River and named in honour of Guru Govind Singh. The Bhakra Nangal project is a joint venture of Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan.

Sardar sarovar dam is constructed across the river Narmada and is located in Gujarat. It is one of the largest dams with a height of 163m. It was opened in June 2006. It is a multipurpose dam.

Tungabhadra dam is constructed across the river Tungabhadra which is a tributary of river Krishna. The dam is near the town of Hospet in Karnataka.

It is a multipurpose dam serving irrigation, electricity generation, flood control, etc. The waters of this dam are shared by states of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka.

Tamil Nadu is the only state in India to launch such a rain water harvesting movement in 2001. The primary aim of such a programme was to recharge the groundwater table. It was estimated that quantity of additional recharge from 100 sq. m roof top area is 55,000 liters.

Rain water harvesting is a method of water conservation by collection of rainwater mostly from the roof into a tank. It can then be used for multiple purposes. If untreated it can be used for watering the plants, washing the livestock etc. If treated properly it can be used for domestic purposes and even for drinking. One important application of collected rain water is to recharge the ground water.

Indira Gandhi canal is one of the important irrigation canals of India. It starts from Firozpur of Punjab and terminates its irrigation facilities in Thar Desert of Rajasthan. The canal traverses seven districts of Rajasthan namely Barmer, Bikaner, Churu, Hanumangarh, Jaisalmer, Jodhpur, and Sriganganagar.

It sounds incredible but it’s true that the world’s wettest town - Cherrapunji - is now suffering from a shortage of drinking water. The problem is that Cherrapunji lies atop a high limestone plateau. Rain falling on the town drains away immediately. Very little rain collection takes place, because the locals don’t like the taste of water running off rusty tin roofs. With a growth in the town population, water has to be carried up from the plains during the drier winter months.

"Multi-purpose river projects lead to large-scale displacement and loss of livelihood". This argument is not in favour of multi-purpose river projects as it is showing demerits of multi-purpose river projects.