| ASSESSMENT
AND DEVELOPMENT STUDY OF RIVER BASIN |
RIVER
BASIN :
Every
water body has got a definite basin area. The basin area is the extent of the
area from where water may be expected in the river. It includes tributaries and
even drains. Indian rivers have been divided into three categories depending upon
basin area. Major rivers are those rivers whose basin area is 20,000 square Kilometers
or more. The rivers basin areas in between 2,000 and 20,000 square kilometers
are grouped as medium rivers and Rest Rivers are minor rivers.
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Major Basins
Major river basins are 13 in number and as a group
they cover 80% population and 85% of total river discharge. The names and detail
of major rivers are presented in table 1.Three major rivers, i.e. the Ganga, the
Brahmaputra and the Indus are snow-fed rivers, originating in the Himalayas. Rest
of the ten rivers are originating either in Central India or peninsular regions;
three in Madhya Pradesh, two each in Bihar, Maharastra and Karnataka and one each
from Vindhyan and Aravali hill ranges. The Himalayas Rivers are international
while rests are interstate rivers. Among the state, several different major river
basin are distributed; while Maharastsra has five river basins; Karnataka, Gujarat
and Rajasthan has four each; Andhra Pradesh, Bihar and Orissa three each; Haryana
two; West Bengal, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Assam, Sikkim, Arunanchal Pradesh, Nagaland,
Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Delhi, Jammu & Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh one each.
| Table
1 Detail of Major Rivers of India |
| S.No. |
Name
of the River | Length
in India (Km.) | Basin
Area in India (Sq. Km.) | Average
annual Discharge (MCM) | Palce
of origin | Destination |
| 1. | Ganga
| 2525
| 861404 |
493400 | Gangotri Glacier
Uttar Kashi, U.P. | Bay
of Bengal | | 2. | Indus |
1270 |
321290 |
91455
| Near Mansarover
Lake, Tibet | Arbian
Sea | | 3. | Godavari |
1465
| 312812
| 105000 | Nasik,
Maharastra | Bay
of Bengal | | 4. | Krishna |
1400
| 258948 |
67675
| Mahabaleshwar
Maharashra | Bay
of Bengal | | 5. | Brahmaputra |
720 |
187110 |
510450 | Kailash
Range, China | Bay
of Bengal | | 6. | Mahanadi |
857 |
141600 |
66640
| Raipur,
M.P | Bay
of Bengal | | 7. | Narmada |
1312 |
98796
| 40705 | Amarkantak,
M.P. | Arbian
Sea | | 8. | Covery
|
800 | 87900
| 20950 | Coorg,
Karnataka | Bay
of Bengal | | 9. | Tapi
|
724 | 65145 |
17982 | Batul,
M.P. | Gulf
of Khambhat | |
10. | Pennar
| 597 |
55213
| 3238 | Chennakesva
Hills, Karnataka | Bay
of Bengal | | 11. |
Brahmani | 800 |
39033
| 18310 | Ranchi,
Bihar | Bay
of Bengal | | 12. |
Mahi | 533 |
34842 |
8500
| Ratlam,
M.P. | Gulf
of Khambhat | |
13. | Sabarmati |
300 | 21674
| 3200 | Aravali
Hills Gujarat | Gulf
of Khambhat | |
Medium and Minor Basins
Among the forty-five
medium river basins, four are international and eleven are interstate. A total
of seventeen rivers having a combined basin area of 63500 square kilometers join
the Arabian Sea, while other 24 having a combined basin area of 210596 square
kilometers fall in the Bay of Bengal. Rest four rivers originate in India and
ultimately cross the national boundary. Medium river basins occupy 8% of total
basin area and about 119940 million cubic water flows through them.
There
are fifty-five major river basins having a combined basin area of about 2 lakh
square kilometers. Most of them originate from Eastern and Western Ghats. In addition
to these there are few desert rivers too, which flow for some distance to get
lost the deserts. The total area of minor basins is 9% of total basin area of
Indian rivers while runoff is 127 MCM.
