CHAPTER – III HYDROLOGY AND WATER ASSESSMENT 3.0 General As decided during the meeting of Coordination Committee of Water Resources Department Madhya Pradesh and NWDA held on November 3, 2010 at Bhopal and subsequent decisions taken in various meetings held at different levels with officials of Ministry of Water Resources, Govt. of India, Govt. of MP and NWDA, the joint visit of senior officers of NWDA and MP Water Resources Department was conducted for finalization of location of project sites in the Upper Betwa region. NWDA has also carried out the survey of L-Section of Betwa river between Neemkheda and foreshore of Rajghat project (about 216 Km) to finalize the locations of proposed barrages, on Betwa river. The FRL of Rajghat dam is 371 m and bed level of Betwa river at Neemkheda dam site is 415 m. Therefore, only 44 m head is available for construction of barrages, two existing schemes for supply of water to Bharat-Oman Gas Refinery and J.P. Thermal Power Project near Bina. Considering the available head of 44 m, topography of Betwa basin and with the help of L- section of Betwa river, five barrages have been identified on main Betwa river to have a cumulative storage of 72.82 MCM water. The names of barrages are Neemkheda barrage, Parariya barrage, Narkheraghat barrage, Bijrotha barrage and Kotha barrage. After the joint inspection at various sites, the location of Tharr dam across Newan river (a tributary of Betwa river), Babnai dam across Babnai river (a tributary of Bina river) and Lower Orr dam across Orr river (a tributary of Betwa river) finalized and considered for the conducting Surveys & Investigations under DPR of Ken- Betwa Link Project, Phase-II. As a part of investigation of above projects, consultancy work for carrying out Hydrological studies and multi reservoir simulation studies was entrusted to National Institute of Hydrology (NIH), Roorkee. The scope of consultancy work awarded to NIH, Roorkee covered the detailed Hydrological Studies for proposed projects in Betwa Basin in the ultimate development scenario besides multi reservoir simulation studies 88 of the Ken-Betwa link system. The studies were to be carried out within the ambit of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the Government of India and State Government of Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh signed on August 25, 2005 for preparation of Detailed Project Report of Ken-Betwa Link. NIH, Roorkee has carried out hydrological and water balance studies for assessment of diversion flood and design flood, sedimentation analysis, multi reservoir simulation studies and hydrodynamic modeling and related studies for above to projects. The detailed report of NIH is enclosed at Volume-IV (Hydrology) and duly covered in present chapter and in Chapter-V Reservoir and Power. Central Water Commission team led by Chief Engineer, Design (NW&S) visited the proposed sites for the construction of dams/barrages under Ken-Betwa Link Project, Phase-II to review the design features and proposed locations of Neemkheda Barrage, Narkheraghat Barrage, Kotha Barrage, Pararia Barrage and Tharr Barrage. The recommendations of the team are briefly described below: Recommendations: (a) The Kotha Barrage project is a promising project with the new pond level of El 396/397 m. The proposal for this project needs to be further supplemented with additional investigations and data. (b) The pond levels of Tharr and Babnai need to be revised to bring their storage within the confines of the river banks as submergence for these projects lies in active agricultural land. However, prima facie it was observed that bringing pond below the banks in these barrages would result in very small storage and may not be attractive. Instead, a series of check dams can be thought of. (c) The Bijrotha and Narkheraghat Barrage projects may be dropped as Kotha Barrage would serve their objectives. (d) Neemkheda Barrage project also needs to be reviewed in view of the weir already constructed downstream of it and wide submergence envisaged by it. 89 (e) The Parariya project can be dropped. Instead, the pond level of Barari can be raised to serve the objectives of Parariya project. However, for the present, MP state has already constructed a weir downstream of Pararia site which is taking care of the present day irrigation requirements envisaged from Pararia project. The site for Barari can be chosen depending upon the bridge requirement of local population. This would apportion part of the expenditure towards that serve making the project more attractive. A review meeting was held under Chairman, CWC on November 26, 2013 to discuss above note in which various officers from CWC and NWDA participated. It was decided that DPR of Ken-Betwa Link Project Phase-II would be prepared with the following five components. 1. Lower Orr Dam 2. Neemkheda barrage 3. Barari barrage 4. Kesari barrage 5. Kotha barrage with increased pond level i.e. 396 m Though NIH, Roorkee has carried out Hydrological studies considering 10 structures. Scope of present chapter has been restricted to above 5 structures only. 3.1 Brief Description of Betwa River Basin The Betwa River originates in the Raisen district of M.P. near Barkhera village south-west of Bhopal at an elevation of 576 m above mean sea level. It flows in a north-easterly direction through M.P. and enters into U.P. near village Bangawan of Jhansi district. The total length of the river from its origin to its confluence with the Yamuna River is 590 km, out of which 232 km lies in M.P. and the rest 358 km in U.P. The river joins the Yamuna near Hamirpur in U.P. at an elevation of 106 m. The river basin lies between 22° 54' to 26° 00' N latitudes and 77° 10' to 80° 20' E longitudes. The total catchment area of the basin is 44335 Sq. km, out of which 30238 Sq. km lies in M.P. and the remaining 14097 Sq. km lies in U.P. The basin 90 is saucer shaped with sandstone hills around the perimeter. A map of the Betwa basin is shown in Figure – 3.1. During its course from the source up to the confluence with the Yamuna, the river is joined by a number of tributaries and sub-tributaries; the important among them being the Bina, Jamini, Dhasan and Birma on the right bank and Kaliasot, Halali, Bah, Saga, Narain and Kaithan on the left bank. Out of the 14 principal tributaries, 11 lie completely in M.P. and 3 lie partly in M.P. and partly in U.P. Betwa covers the areas of Bundelkhand uplands, the Malwa plateau and the Vindhyan scrap lands in the districts of Tikamgarh, Sagar, Vidisha, Raisen, Bhopal, Guna, Shivpuri and Chhatarpur of M.P. and Hamirpur, Jalaun, Jhansi and Banda districts of U.P. Figure – 3.1: Map of Betwa River basin 91 3.1.1 Topography & Geology Upper Betwa sub-basin consists of the Vindhyan ranges running east-west in the upper reaches and the Malwa plateau in the middle and lower reaches consisting of scrap lands, barren lands and cultivated lands. The lower Betwa sub-basin consists of Shivpuri plateau. Lower reaches of the basin are mostly plain areas. The different geological formations occurring in the basin include: Alluvium, Lateritic and Deccan traps. The lower part of the basin consists of quartzite, sandstone, conglomerate and limestone. The coarse- grained Bundelkhand gneiss overlying granite basement formations are found in the basin. 3.1.2 Climate & Rainfall The climate of the basin is characterized by hot summer and mild winter. The temperature in the upper reach (sometimes) goes beyond 40 °C. The maximum and minimum mean monthly relative humidity are reported to be 83% (August) and 20.5% (April) respectively. The wind velocities in the upper reaches (varying between 6.6 km/h to 18.9 km/h) of the basin are generally higher than that of the lower reaches in the basin (varying between 2.9 km/h to 13 km/h). The cloud cover remains higher in upper part of the basin as compared to lower parts. The basin receives more than 90% of its total rainfall during the south-west monsoon period (June to October). The upper part of the basin receives about 1100 mm of rainfall annually whereas in the lower part, the average annual rainfall is between 800 to 900 mm. 3.1.3 Land use & Soils The total cropped area in the upper reach of the basin is higher (73%) compared to that in the lower reach (59%). There is a considerable portion of forest land in the upper reach of the basin. However, the culturable waste lands and area under fallow land are more in the lower reach of the basin compared to the upper reaches. The upper part of the basin is dominated by deep black soil and medium black soil with patches of mixed red and black soil. The black soils 92 are suitable for cultivation. Most of the Lower Betwa basin is covered by alluvial and plateau soils. 3.1.4 Present and Proposed Projects in the Betwa Basin Rajghat dam, Matatila dam, Dukwan dam, Barwa Sagar, and Parichha weir are the major existing projects in the Lower Betwa basin while in the Upper Betwa basin, the existing projects are mostly of medium and small size. The only major project in the Upper Betwa sub-basin is Halali dam. The Rajghat dam, Matatila dam, and Dukwan dam have been constructed over the main Betwa River whereas Halali dam is constructed on the Halali river and Barwa Sagar is located over the Barwa Nala near village Barwa in Jhansi district of U.P.