J. Indian Water Resour. Soc.

,
Vol.
32, No.
3-4,July-Oct.,
2012
Journal
of Indian
Water
Resources Society,

Vol 32, No. 3-4, July-Oct., 2012

INTER-LINKING OF INDIAN RIVERS-NEED AND IMPORTANCE

R.K. Sivanappan
ABSTRACT
India is one of the few countries in the world endowed with reasonable land and water resources. Being a monsoon country the
rainfall is erratic, unevenly distributed and hence water scarcity in some parts and floods in other parts frequently occur. In order
to produce to feed the expected population of 1650 M in 2050, there is a need to bring about 150 M Ha under irrigation from 100
M Ha at present. As more than 65% of the flow in the rivers is not utilizable and goes to sea every year, it is necessary to interlink
all the rivers in the North and South to provide water to the deficit basins. Government has created a National Water Development
Agency (NWDA) to study and implement the programme. The perspective plan comprises two components namely i) Himalayan
rivers Development and ii) Peninsular rivers development. Of this the 2nd component can be implemented since NWDA has
conducted feasibility survey, and estimates prepared to some basins. The excess water of east flowing rivers is proposed to bring
to the South and the west flowing flood water to transfer to the east to irrigate drought affected areas. The Supreme Court has
directed Government of India in the year 2002 and again in 2012 to implement the interlinking of rivers in a time bound
programme by constituting a panel. This paper analyses the water resources of the country and the priority items for interlinking of
rivers to fulfill the needs of the southern States particularly Tamil Nadu which is facing severe water scarcity.
Keywords: Agricultural production, Interlinking of rivers, peninsular rivers development perspective plan, water resources, water
scarcity.

INTRODUCTION
India is one of the few countries in the world endowed with
reasonable /good land and water resources. However, many
parts of the country (South & West) are facing water scarcity
because the rainfall is erratic falling in 3 or 4 months (within
100 hrs) and it is not uniform throughout the country. The per
capita availability of water in different basins / parts of the
country has vast variations, from 18,417 M3 in Bhramaputra
basin, 3640 M3 in west flowing rivers, 2,546 M3 in
Mahanadhi, about 660M3 in Cauvery basin to as low as 383 M3
in some east flowing river basins in Tamil Nadu.
It is estimated that about 1/3 of the area is drought prone in the
country (for example, Karnataka 79%, Tamil Nadu 64%,
Andhra Pradesh 45%, Maharastra 40%). Though the average
availability of water for India is about 2000 M3/person/year, it
is less than 650 M3 /p/year in Tamil Nadu and it will be
further reduced in the years to come as the population is
increasing at the rate of about 2% per annum. As the demand
of water is increasing day by day for drinking, industrial uses,
the availability /allotment of water for irrigation will be
reduced from the present 85% to 70% in another 15-20 years.
However, the food production has to be increased for the
growing population, i.e. from 240MT in 2010 to 450 MT in
2050. If the availability of water is less than 1000 M3 / p/year,
the State will face water scarcity according to UN/world Bank
norms. Hence Tamil Nadu is already a water scarcity state.
Therefore, there is a need to find out water for South India in
general and Tamil Nadu in particular. This is possible in view
of the fact that out of 195 MHM or 70200 TMC of surface /
River flow in a year in India only about 69 MHM or 24,840
TMC, i.e. 35% is only useable quantity and the remaining
utilizable water will be flowing into the sea every year (Water
Resources Development Plan of India, 1999).
International Consultant on Water Resources,
14 Bharathi park, 4th cross road,
Coimbatore-641043
Email: sivanappan@hotmail.com
Manuscript No.: 1328

The objective of this paper is that in spite of India has

endowed with good water resources, many parts in the country
are facing scarcity even for drinking water and to produce the
required food grains of 450 500 MT to feed the growing
population of 1650 M in the year 2050. To achieve the
objectives, it is necessary to implement the interlinking of
rivers particularly the Peninsualar rivers both flowing west and
east to fulfill the needs of the southern States particularly
Tamil Nadu which is already facing severe water scarcity .

NATIONAL WATER DEVELOPMENT

AGENCY (NWDA)
Inter basin water transfer can be a powerful tool to minimize
the scarcity of water and regional imbalance in the supply and
demand for water although it may raise number of
constitutional issues. Such Inter basin transfer will help in
carrying the surplus water from one river (basin) to the water
scarce area of another basin.
Many suggestions have been made from time to time for
interlinking the Indian rivers. After carefully examining all
such suggestions for transferring water for irrigation and other
purposes from well placed / surplus areas to deficit areas in the
country for the optimum development of water resources, the
Ministry of Water Resources and the Central Water
Commission formulated in 1980 a National Perspective Plan
(NPP) for water development
keeping existing uses
undisturbed and tribunal awards in view and providing for the
reasonable needs of the basin/States for the foreseeable future.
The perspective plan comprises two components - Himalayan
Rivers Development and Peninsular Rivers Development.
NWDA has been set up in July 1982 by the Govt. of India to
investigate into it further and give a concrete shape to the
Peninsular Rivers Development Component of the NPP to start
with.

THE PROJECTS
A. Peninsular River Development
a)

NWDA had conducted feasibility studies and found it

possible to connect the six rivers namely - The
Mahanadhi, the Godavari, the Krishna, the Pennar,

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J. Indian Water Resour. Soc., Vol. 32, No. 3-4,July-Oct., 2012

Cauvery and Vaigai to provide a long term solutions

to the problem of water scarcity being faced by the
farmers in South India namely Andhra Pradesh,
Karnataka Tamil Nadu & Pondicherry States.

Virudhunagar Districts to irrigate about 2.26 lakh

acres of dry lands at an estimated cost of Rs. 1,400
crores and can be implemented in 8 years period in
the year 1999 (The Hindu of 6th April 1999).

The Mahanadhi and the Godavari were found to have

surplus water to an extent of (280 + 531) 811 TMC or
2.25 MHM. Instead of allowing the excess water to
flow into the Bay of Bengal, it was possible to

Based on the data available, the surplus water in

Kerala State, presently going as a waste every year to
the Arabian Sea is estimated as follows (Sivanappan,
1984)

Water Resources
Total run off in all rives in Kerala State
Total utilization waster
Water requirement for irrigation, drinking, Indsutry, Salinity control etc.
Surplus available for transfer
transport the water through canals providing for
irrigation of farm-lands. According to NWDA, as
conceived by K.L. Rao, the then Minister of Water
Resources, the Mahanadhi, the Godavari, the Krishna,
the Pennar and the Cauvery, Vaigai and Gundar are
to be connected by a canal having a length of 3716
Km and with an estimated cost of Rs.35,000 crores
(Rs. 50,000 crores or more at present value)(NWDA,
1999; The Hindu dated 28.8.1997) (Fig. 1).
b) NWDA has also prepared blue-prints to connect the
west flowing rivers in the Western coast, according to
which the Pamba and Achankovil Rivers carry about
250 TMC in Kerala, will be diverted to Vaippar river
in Tamil Nadu to the extent of 22 TMC to be used in
the drought prone Tirunelveli, Tuticorin and

MHM
7.80
5.75
4.50
1.25

TMC
2810
2070
1620
450

NWDA estimated the surplus water in Kerala going to

sea every year as more than 1000 TMC. This quantity
of water can be diverted for the benefit of drought
prone areas of Tamil Nadu to grow food crops which
can feed the growing population not only in Tamil
Nadu but also in Kerala and other States (NWDA,
1999)
c)

There is another project namely - Pandiar and

Ponnumpuzha River project - The origin of the river
is Tamil Nadu running towards west and joining the
Cholaiar River in Kerala and falls in Arabian sea. The
catchment area of the river is in Tamil Nadu and
about 14-15 TMC of water from this catchment can
be diverted to east, i.e. to Tamil Nadu to irrigate about
2 lakh acres. Though negotiations were going on

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J. Indian Water Resour. Soc., Vol. 32, No. 3-4,July-Oct., 2012

between Kerala and Tamil Nadu from 1972 onwards
but there was no agreement yet and the project has not
been taken up even after 40 years.
d) In Karnataka, the Western Ghats which is about 13%
of the geographical area of the State has 60% of the
States water resources in terms of quantity due to
high intensity of rainfall and every drop of it is
running as waste to the sea. The balance 87% of the
area of the State mostly comprising Krishna and
Cauvery basins have only 40% of the waters for
which Karnataka has water disputes with Tamil Nadu
and Andhra Pradesh fighting in tribunals. The West
flowing rivers in Uttara Kannada and Dakshin
Kannada Districts of Karnataka State like
Nethravathi, Kumardhara, Varahi, Aghanashini etc.
have in all about 2000 TMC annually (Table 1) as
against Krishna and Cauvery put together of 1300
TMC (Fig. 2).

Thus, without disturbing the environment and ecology

of the forests and without displacement of people, it is
possible to divert easily and economically the west
flowing water to the east in Karnataka across the
Ghats through pump storage schemes, utilizing the
wasted existing thermal power in the night time,
during monsoons for removing shortage of supplies
for irrigation, Industry and drinking water. By this it
is possible to share the excess water and power with
Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh.

Till today no serious thought seems to have been

given or plans made to divert the western flow to the
eastern water deficit plains of Krishna and Cauvery
basins through financially and economically feasible
engineering projects. If pump storage schemes are
thought off and planned for implementation, the
problem of power requirements, for diverting the
water can be overcome. To minimize environmental
and ecological damage, the power house and
penstocks could be underground in tunnels with only
small pools seen in the surface. The above mentioned
diversions, if implemented in the next 10-15 years, it
will solve not only the disputes between the southern
States but also the water demand / requirement of
these States.
NPP has the distinctive features to eventually work on
gravity flows except in small reaches where low lifts
not exceeding 120M may be involved. The plan was

prima facia to be technically feasible and

economically viable when compared with the present
cost of development of irrigation facilities. NWDA
has identified 17 links under the peninsular river
development plan and has also prepared the prefeasibility reports for all 17 links. The feasibility plan
prepared by NWDA has been submitted to Ministry
of Water Resources (NWDA, 1999).

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J. Indian Water Resour. Soc., Vol. 32, No. 3-4,July-Oct., 2012

S
u
r
e
s
h
P
r
a
b
h
u
,
C
h
a
i
r
m
a
n
,

Table 1. Annual yield of west flowing rivers in Karnataka state

Sl.No.

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13

Sub-basin

Kalinadi
Shravathi
Chakra River
Netravathy
Varahi
Mahadavi
Bedthi
Independent catchment between Bedthi
and Aghanashini
Aghanashini
Independent
Catchment
between
Sharavathi and Chakra River
Independent Catchment between varahi
and netravathy
Independent
Catchment
between
Netravathy and Barapole
Barapole
Total

T
askforce - Interlinking of Rivers has prepared a
detailed report and has submitted the report to the
then Prime Minister of India during 2003-2004
mainly on Peninsular Rivers development. On April
17, 2003, Prabhu gave the priority to the peninsular
river project, and all the southern States agreed to this
proposal (Suresh Prabhu, 17.4.2003).

b.

Under the Himalayan Rivers Development

proposed, inter linking-canal system will be
provided to transfer surplus flows of the Kosi, the
Gandak and the Ghagra to the west. In addition,
the Brahmaputra - Ganga link will be constructed
for augmenting dry weather flows of the Ganga
and the surplus water available in the
Brahmaputra and its tributaries can be transferred
to South by extending Brahmaputra and its
tributaries with Ganga and Ganga link up to
Mahanadhi. The Himalayan component would
provide additional irrigation of about 22MHa and
generation of about 30M-KW of hydro power,
besides providing substantial flood control in the
Ganga and Bramaputra basins ( NWDA, 1999)
(Fig. 3).
The Japanese scientists (Hiroshi Hori, 1999) have
also suggested that Brahmaputra - Ganga water
diversion and water transmission to the west and
the south of India. If this proposal is realized, the
present severe flood disasters can be reduced in
the north and the people of India shall be blessed
in the long run by the brilliant industrial and
agricultural development. Though the cost of the
project to implement may be very high but this is

Average yield
(MCM)

1330
1042

3028
3086

3067

9457

1320

4474

560

1274
57489MCM
Or
2000 TMC

934
8816
991
9939
2263
934
5040
906

a challenge to be taken up in the next 25-30

years. The University of Texas also detailed in
1992 the inter basin transfer of water in Ganga
and Brahmaputra basin in cooperation and
collaboration with Nepal and Bangladesh (The
Ganges - Brahmaputra Basin, 1992).
c.

B. Himalayan Rivers Development Project

a.

Catchment
area
(in sqkm)
412
3592
336
3222
759
412
3574
401

By the execution of the proposed water links

(transfers) it is possible to bring an additional
area of about 35 M-Ha, 25 M-Ha from surface
and 10 M-Ha from increased groundwater
storage besides augmenting drinking water
supplies of our cities (Carg, 1999). The cost may
be high but not at prohibitory level, and the
projects can be taken up in a phased manner, to
start from the peninsular rivers development
including diverting west flowing rivers to the
east. The Govt. should have a will and
commitment for achieving the goal.

SALIENT POINTS AT A GLANCE

The following salient points may be considered to take up the
projects:

The surface water resource of the country is about 195

MHM and the replenishable ground water resource is 43
MHM as reported by the National Commission for
Integrated Water Resources and Development Plan, Govt.
of India, New Delhi in January 1999 totaling about 238
MHM. The total utilizable water is noted only as 69 MHM
out of 195 MHM of surface water (i.e. 35% of the water).
The data of utilizable water as 69 M HM seems to be very
low as stated by the National commission for integrated
water resources development plan (Water Resources
Development Plan, 1999).

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J. Indian Water Resour. Soc., Vol. 32, No. 3-4,July-Oct., 2012

The available water for an Indian citizen is 195+43=238

MHM divided by population (2011) of 1210 million is
about 2000 M3/person/year. At the same time, the
available water for Tamil Nadu citizen is 2.42 SW + 2.24
GW = 4.64 or 4.70 MHM divided by the present
population of 72 million i.e. 4.70MHM/72M =
650M3/person/year, whereas the required water is 1700
M3 and above. If available water is 1000M3, already water
scarcity is there. Therefore, situation is likely to worsen
further if the population increases to 1650 M in 2050.
The water storage capacity created per person in different
countries in the world are as follows (The HINDU, Aug.
26, 2010) showing Indias state-of theart scenario.

Country

M3

USA

5961

Australia

4717

Brazil

3388

China

2486

India

200

There are about 45000 large dams in the world, of which

46% is in China, 14% is in USA, only 9% is in India.
Japan 5%, and Spain 3% etc. (Report of the committee on

large dams). The environmentalists oppose on some or the

other grounds the construction of reservoirs (dams) to
store the flood water which otherwise goes as a waste.

The storage capacity created in USA is about 65 MHM

compared to India 18MHM and it may go to about 36
MHM after all works under constructions and
contemplated are completed. The fact is that both
countries have the same quantity of water from the rain
and USA population is only 30 crores compared to Indias
121 crores.

The storage capacity of Aswan Dam in Egypt can store 2

years of rainwater from the catchment area. The boulder
dam in USA can store all the runoff water and no water is
overflowing from the dam after its construction (Sandra
Postel, Pillar of Sand, WW Norton & Co., New York,
1999).

Chinas ambitious $ 80 billion projects to divert waters of

southern river (Yantze) to the arid north (Yellow river) are
nearing completion. There is another plan in hand to divert
the Brahmaputras waters to Northern China (The Hindu
dated 7.2.2012) which will affect Indias water resources.

There are many reports and proposals of NWDA (from

1982 to 2012) prepared feasibility reports and cost
estimates for some diversions especially for Peninsular
rivers and west flowing rivers to east in Kerala State.

Suresh P. Prabhu, Chairman of the Task force on

interlinking of Rivers, New Delhi submitted a detailed

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J. Indian Water Resour. Soc., Vol. 32, No. 3-4,July-Oct., 2012

report to the then Prime Minister of India in 2004 with
details about interlinking of rivers in peninsular India.

In Peninsular India (South India), many studies show large

quantity of water is wasted /allowed to go to the sea, i.e.
Andhra Pradesh 4000 TMC (AP Govt. Report appeared in
the Hindu dt.19.11.2011); Karnataka, 2000 TMC (The
table furnished by Water Resources Development
Organization, Govt. of Karnataka, Bangalore), Kerala
more than 1000 TMC (Assessed and reported by NWDA,
1999). All these 7000 TMC wasted water can be used to
solve the water and energy problems of southern states
using the latest technology without affecting environment
with less energy through pump storage schemes to solve
the water and energy problems of southern States.

surplus water (estimated by NWDA) totaling to 2260 TMC

which can irrigate about 10 MHa. For India to become a
developed country in 2020/25, the farmers should get water to
irrigate about 150-160 MHa for which inter-linking of rivers is
required.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I gratefully acknowledge my thanks to Dr. S. K. Mishra,
editor, Journal of IWRS for his encouragement, support and
help to write this article. I also thank Dr. N. Mahalingam,
Honarary editor, Kisan World, Chennai for supporting and
encouraging me for this venture, being my dream project for
the last 30 40 years.

REFERENCES

The historic pronouncement on 31st Oct. 2002, the

Supreme Court of India asked the government to setup a
high level taskforce to work out the modalities for
Interlinking of rivers in India within 10 years and the
recent judgment (on 27.2.2012) directed to implement the
interlinking of rivers in a time-bound manner and
constitute a panel of ministers, experts and activists to
execute the project as it has been already delayed resulting
in the increase in cost.

1.

Captain D.J. Dastur, 1978, The garland canal project

Answer to Indias flood, food and unemployment
problems, Forum of Free Enterprise, Bombay.

2.

Carg S. K., 1999, River water disputes in India, Lashmi

Publications (P) Ltd, New Delhi.

3.

China Water Vision, 2nd World water forum, 20th March

2000, Meeting the water challenge in rapid transition.
The Hague, The Netherlands.

PROPOSALS / ORDERS / VERDICTS

FAVOURING IMPLEMENTATION

4.

Hiroshi Hori, 1999 - Macro Engineering super scale

water Resources Development in tropical continents
Brahmaputra Ganges Water diversion and water
transmissions to the west and South India.( Personal
Communication with Japannes scientist).

5.

IWRS, 1999, Water Resources day, Theme paper on

Water Vision 2050, New Delhi.

6.

Mahalingam, N., 1999 Reporting India for faster

economic development through interlinking river basins
Kisan World, Chennai.

7.

Mohan. S. et. al., 2004, Interlinking of Indian rivers

operational and legal issues and options, Seminar
presentation at Indian Institute of Technology, Chennai.

8.

NWDA, 1999, National Perspective

Resources Development, New Delhi,

9.

Report of the National Commission on Agriculture,

1976, Resource Development Part V, Ministry of
Agriculture, Govt. of India, New Delhi.

10.

Sandra postel,1999, Pillar of Sand, WW. Norton and

Company, New York.

11.

Sivanappan, R.K. Linking of peninsular Rivers Need

and Importance Papers presented in many seminars
from 1990 to 2010 in colleges and Universities.

12.

Sivanappan, R.K., 2003. Key note address National

Conference on interlinking of Indian Rivers Problems
and perspectives, Mahendra Engineering College,
Tiruchangodu, Tamil Nadu.

13.

Sivanapan, R.K., 1984, Inter basin transfer of Water to

solve water and energy problem of South India, Seminar
Paper presented at Tamil Nadu Agricultural University,
Coimbatore.

The proposal of interlinking of rivers in India has been in

existence for more than 50 years since K.L. Rao started and
alternate proposal given by D.J. Dastur in 1970s. The
Supreme Court of India took up the issue twice in 2002 and
again in 2012 and directed the Government to implement the
projects without wasting time since it may cost more if it is
postponed. The Govt. of India constituted NWDA in 1982 to
investigate the matter and to provide a concrete shape to the
peninsular rivers development component. The feasibility
reports prepared in 1999 provide a plan for the peninsular
rivers development. Subsequently, a task force was created by
the Government in the beginning of the 21st century and it
submitted a detailed proposal in 2003-04. But no action was
taken on this subject in the last 7-8 years.
The farmers, water experts and the development-oriented
persons of India have been insisting the State and Central
governments to take up the interlinking of rivers work early
but not taken up because of some environmental concerns. In
order to feed the population of 1650 M in 2050, India needs
450-500 MT of food grain and to achieve this, it is necessary
to bring the area of irrigation from 100 M-Ha at present to 150
M-Ha between 2025/50 apart from providing water for
drinking, Industrial use and other purposes.

CONCLUSION
As discussed, the water availability in the country is plenty but
it is unevenly distributed and hence the water scarcity problem
exists in some parts of the country especially in the southern
states, particularly in Tamil Nadu. The unused water which is
flowing into the sea in the southern States appears to be of the
order of 1000 TMC, i.e. 50% of the water flowing in Arabian
Sea in Karnataka; 450 TMC, the excess over the demand in
Kerala; and 810 TMC from Mahanadhi and Godavari Rivers as

for

Water

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J. Indian Water Resour. Soc., Vol. 32, No. 3-4,July-Oct., 2012

14.

Suresh Prabhu, 2003, Chairman, Task Force on

Interlinking of rivers: Press report, The Dinamani,
Coimbatore Edition dated 17.4.2003.

15.

The HINDU, 1999, 2010, 2011, 2012, news papers

covered numerous articles by many scientists in the last
10-20 years.

16.

Water and related statistics,2000,

Commission, New Delhi .

Central Water

17.

The Ganges,Brahmaputra Basin, 1992, Water

Resources Co-orperation between Nepal, India and
Bangledersh edited by David. J. Eaton University of
Texas at Austrin, USA.

18.

Water resources development plan of India, 1999,

Policy and Issues, National Commission for Integrated
water resources Development Plan, Government of
India, Ministry of Water Resources, New Delhi.

46