HYDROLOGY AND WATER RESOURCES OF INDIA Water Science and Technology Library VOLUME 57 Editor-in-Chief V.P. Singh, Texas A&M University, College Station, U.S.A. Editorial Advisory Board M. Anderson, Bristol, U.K. L. Bengtsson, Lund, Sweden J. F. Cruise, Huntsville, U.S.A. U. C. Kothyari, Roorkee, India S. E. Serrano, Philadelphia, U.S.A. D. Stephenson, Johannesburg, South Africa W. G. Strupczewski, Warsaw, Poland The titles published in this series are listed at the end of this volume. HYDROLOGY AND WATER RESOURCES OF INDIA by SHARAD K. JAIN National Institute of Hydrology, Roorkee, India PUSHPENDRA K. AGARWAL National Institute of Hydrology, Roorkee, India and VIJAY P. SINGH Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering, TexasA&MUniversity, College Station, Texas, U.S.A. A C.I.P. Catalogue record for this book is available from the Library of Congress. ISBN-10 1-4020-5179-4 (HB) ISBN-13 978-1-4020-5179-1 (HB) ISBN-10 1-4020-5180-8 (e-book) ISBN-13 978-1-4020-5180-7 (e-book) Published by Springer, P.O. Box 17, 3300 AA Dordrecht, The Netherlands. www.springer.com Cover Illustration: Map of India Printed on acid-free paper Disclaimer: The facts and opinions expressed in this work are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the publisher All rights reserved © 2007 Springer No part of this work may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, microfilming, recording or otherwise, without written permission from the Publisher, with the exception of any material supplied specifically for the purpose of being entered and executed on a computer system, for exclusive use by the purchaser of the work. Dedicated to SKJ: My family, with respect and affection PKA: My late father VPS: Anita, Vinay and Arti v Saraswati saryuh sindhurmibhirma ho maheervasa yantu vakshinih Devirapo matarah sudaytnavo ghravatpayo madhumanno archat Yajur Veda (X,64.9) Water from wells, rivers, rain, and from any other source on earth should be used wisely as it is gift of nature, for well-being of all. PREFACE India is truly a country of continental scale in every respect – topography, climate, culture, and of course water resources. Currently, India is one of the fastest growing economies of the world. Needless to say, the water sector has a crucial role to play in the social well-being and the quality of life. The need for a book describing India’s hydrological practices and water resources, problems in their exploitation, and prospects for their solution has long been felt. A book of somewhat similar nature was published more than three decades ago. During this intervening time a lot of changes have occurred in India not only in the practice of hydrological and water resources technology but also in the environment, society, landscape and land use, agricultural practices, and even climate. Thus, this book attempts to provide a more up-to-date account of water resources of India. It is aimed at students, practitioners, mangers, planners, administrators, and anyone who may be interested in the development and management of water resources in India. The book is organized in four sections. The first section Introduction has one chapter, Physical Environment of India, which gives a broad overview of the country. The second section, Hydrology and Hydrometeorology, is comprised of five chapters dealing with the major components of the hydrologic cycle for India. Water Budget and Population of India are discussed in Chapter 2, followed by a discussion of Rainfall and Analysis of Rainfall Data in Chapter 3; Evaporation and Other Meteorological Data in Chapter 4; Runoff and Streamflow in Chapter 5; and Groundwater in Chapter 6. These chapters describe instruments and measurement techniques, and the techniques of analysis that are used in India in order to measure and analyze the components of the hydrologic cycle. Maps, vii viii Preface figures, and tables are extensively used to illustrate the quantities of concern and their spatial and temporal variations. The third section, comprising 10 chapters, focuses on River Basins of India. Beginning with an overview of the various river basins and their water resources in Chapter 7 entitled ‘River Basins of India’, it goes on to discuss individual basins or a group of basins. Chapter 8 discusses Ganga Basin; Chapter 9 Brahmaputra Basin; Chapter 10 Indus Basin; Chapter 11 Narmada Basin; Chapter 12 Tapi, Sabarmati, and Mahi Basins; Chapter 13 Mahanadi, Subernarekha, and Brahamani Basins; Chapter 14 Krishna and Godavari Basins; Chapter 15 Cauvery and Pennar Basins; and Chapter 16 Other Basins and Islands. The fourth section entitled Water Uses, Projects, Problems and Governance is the final section of the book and is comprised of 8 chapters. Chapter 17 describes the Major Uses of Water in India. It discusses at length the water uses for irrigation, hydropower, municipal and industrial uses, environment flow, recreation, navigation, etc. Problems Related to Water Resources form the subject matter of Chapter 18, followed by Chapter 19 on Reservoirs and Lakes in India, and Chapter 20 on Water Quality Related Aspects. A practitioner should also be conversant with legal aspects and this perspective is presented in Chapter 21 entitled Constitutional Provisions, Inter-state Water Disputes and Treaties. Inter Basin Water Transfer is becoming a major initiative in India these days in order to overcome problems due to spatial and temporal mismatch between water availability and demands. A detailed description of the present proposals being debated in India and other related aspects are presented in Chapter 22. A brief discussion of the Institutions in the Field of Hydrology and Water Resources in India forms the subject matter of the Chapter 23. The final Chapter 24 is devoted to Water Governance in India. Water Resources of India is a vast subject and despite this voluminous book, several aspects could not be covered here. We hope that the book will be helpful to those who have interest in the water resources of India. For this book, data was compiled from a very large number of sources and at times data from different sources were quite different. We have attempted to present a consistent and the most likely status of things. It is, however, likely that there are some mistakes in the book and we request the alert readers to bring these to our notice. Sharad Jain Pushpendra Agarwal Vijay Singh April 2006 Roorkee/College Station ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS A large number of colleagues helped us at various stages of preparation of the manuscript. We had long consultations with them and many of our colleagues shared the data and figures that they had. Mr. C. P. Kumar and Dr. Sanjay Jain provided a lot of information, relevant books, photographs, addresses of web-pages, etc. Dr. Sanjay Jain also provided the photo for book cover and his help is thankfully acknowledged. Useful data were also provided by many of our colleagues from National Institute of Hydrology, including Dr. Pratap Singh, Dr. M. K. Goel, Dr. P. K. Bhunya, Dr. K. S. Ramasastri, Dr. K. D. Sharma, and Mr. A. K. Lohani. Dr. Nagesh Kumar of Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, reviewed a chapter and gave data for some basins. We are thankful to Mr. Hemant Chowdhary, Dr. S. K. Mishra, Prof. G. C. Mishra, Dr. M. L. Kansal, Dr. Vijay Kumar, Mr. S. S. Kanwar, Mr. Pankaj Garg, Mr. A. R. Senthil Kumar, and Mr. Yatveer Singh for the useful information provided by them. The staff of NIH library, particularly Mohd. Furqanullah, were always very cooperative. Mr. N. K. Varshney prepared excellent drawings at short notice, and Mr. T. P. Panicker and Mr. Rajesh Agarwal provided help with editing. Completion of a book of this nature requires work till late at night and on weekends over a long time span. Our families not only had to put up with the inconvenience on numerous occasions but also helped a lot and kept us free from other responsibilities. Their support is gratefully acknowledged. SKJ, PKA, VPS Disclaimer The facts and opinions expressed in this work are those of the authors and not necessarily of their respective organizations. ix TABLE OF CONTENTS Dedication v Preface vii Acknowledgements ix List of Figures xiii List of Tables xxiii SECTION 1: INTRODUCTION 1 1. Physical Environment of India 3 SECTION 2: HYDROLOGY AND HYDROMETEOROLOGY 63 2. Water Budget and Population of India 65 3. Rainfall and Analysis of Rainfall Data 87 4. Evaporation and Other Meteorological Data 155 5. Runoff and Streamflow 193 6. Groundwater 235 SECTION 3: RIVER BASINS 295 7. River Basins of India 297 8. Ganga Basin 333 9. Brahmaputra and Barak Basin 419 10. Indus Basin 473 11. Narmada Basin 513 12. Tapi, Sabarmati and Mahi Basins 561 13. Mahanadi, Subernarekha and Brahmani Basins 597 14. Krishna and Godavari Basins 641 15. Cauvery and Pennar Basins 701 16. Other Basins and Islands 743 xi xii Table of Contents Eminent water resources professionals who have made outstanding contributions in India 791 SECTION 4: WATER USES, PROJECTS, PROBLEMS, AND GOVERNANCE 797 17. Major Uses of Water in India 799 18. Problems Related to Water Resources Management in India 871 19. Reservoirs and Lakes 937 20. Water Quality and Related Aspects 997 21. Constitutional Provisions, Inter-State Water Disputes and Treaties 1035 22. Inter-Basin Water Transfer 1065 23. Institutions in the Field of Hydrology and Water Resources 1111 24. Concepts of Water Governance for India 1155 References 1191 Appendix A. Abbreviations 1215 Appendix B. Conversion Factors 1217 Appendix C. National Water Policy 1219 Appendix D. Indian Standards related to Hydrology and Water Resources 1231 Index 1239 LIST OF FIGURES Chapter 1.