Inland Essay

An essay
on
INLAND WATER
MANAGEMENT
IN INDIA
Submitted by:
JATIN ARORA
MBA INFRA
Canals and inland waterways, natural or artificial waterways used for

navigation, crop irrigation, water supply, or drainage.
Despite modern technological advances in air and ground transportation,
inland waterways continue to fill a vital role and, in many areas, to grow
substantially. Water transport is one of the oldest means of transport in India.
Prior to the advent of rail and road transports, goods and people were moved
from one place to another through water transport. Since there is almost very
small cost involved in the construction and maintenance of waterways this
transport system is always cheaper. Transport by inland waterways may be
by navigable rivers or those made navigable by canalization (dredging and
bank protection) or on artificial waterways called canals
According to one estimate the construction of each km of railway and road
needs an investment of Rs. 1.0-1.5 crores and Rs. 0.60-0.75 crore respectively
whereas only Rs. 0.10 crore is required to develop same length of waterways.
Their development is faster and maintenance cost much lower. Waterways are
of two types: (a) Inland waterways, and (b) Sea ways or ocean ways also called
shipping.
Inland waterways refer to using inland water bodies like rivers, canals,
backwaters, creeks, etc. for transporting goods and people from one place to
another. India has a long historical tradition of using such waterways. Ganga,
Brahmaputra, Indus, Yamuna, Mahanadi, Godavari, Krishna, Kaveri,
Narmada and Tapi etc. were the main arteries of the country's transport
system giving birth to a number of inland river ports and jetties. The decline
of river transport began with the construction of the railways during the
middle of the 19th century.
Later on the development of roads adversely affected the prospects of such
transport. The diversion of river water irrigation canals made many of these
rivers unsuitable for navigation. So much so that today its share is only one
per cent in the country's transport system.
India is a land of many long and perennial rivers. But water transport is not
very popular in the country. This is mainly due to seasonal concentration of
rainfall, fluctuating river regime, devastating floods during rainy season,
shifting river courses (in the Northern Plains) making it difficult to construct
permanent jetty or wharf, diversion of large quantity of river water into
irrigation canals so as to reduce the depth of water in the river and making it
unsuitable for steamers and mechanized boats, heavy silting and formation
of sandbars, undulating topography in hilly and plateau regions leading to
the formation of a number of rapids, and formation of delta and diversion
channels making the mouth narrower for the entry of ships and big boats.
I would now be discussing about the challenges and possible solutions to

overcome these challenges in the Inland Water Management.
There are various issues with the Inland Water Management, the major issues
among them are: Volume of water in the rivers has lessened on account of
construction of canals for irrigation purposes, the peninsular rivers depend
on rainfall for their volume of water and therefore during dry periods, these
appear to be ribbons of water only, the peninsular rivers flowing westwards
meet the sea. Their courses are short and often they make waterfalls and have
steep gradient, most of the large rivers of the country enter the sea through
shallow sand chocked delta channels. Thus navigation is hampered unless
dredging is done.
The country has vast variety of navigable waterways which comprises rivers,
canals, backwaters, creeks, etc. Of this only certain parts of major rivers is
navigable by mechanized crafts. As regards canals, out of 4,300 km of
navigation canals, only 900 km is suitable for navigation by mechanized
crafts. About 160 lakh tones of cargo is annually moved by Inland Water
Transport.
The most important waterways of the country are: The Ganga Bhagirathi
Hugli, the Brahmaputra river, the Barak river, the delta and lower courses of
the Mahanadi, Godavari and Krishna rivers, the lower courses of the Narmada
and Tapi, the Zuari and Mandovi rivers in Goa, the Kali, Shravati and
Netravati in Karnataka.
The backwaters and lagoons in Kerala and the Buckingham Canal of Andhra
Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. Uttar Pradesh has the highest length of navigable
inland waterways (2,441 km or 17.01 per cent) of the country followed by West
Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Kerala and Bihar.
The Ganga river provides an important inland waterway for the country. It is
a perennial river fed by Monsoon rains during rainy season and melting of the
snow during dry summer days. On its 2,510 km length from snow to the sea
it passes through most densely populated parts of the country and nurturing
a number of premier cities of north India like Hardwar, Kanpur, Allahabad,
Varanasi, Ghazipur, Patna.Munger, Murshidabadand Kolkata.
Despite heavy diversion of water to irrigation canals its main channel still
maintains a depth of more than 10 meters. Recently the river has been made
navigable up to Allahabad and regular steamer service has started between
Haldia and Allahabad. Some of the tributaries of the Ganga like Yamuna,
Ghaghara, Gandak, and Gomati may also be utilised for navigation.
The Hugli River is an important distributary of the Ganga in its delta course
and is intensively used for river navigation between Kolkata and Diamond
Harbour. With consequent decrease in the depth of water is the main obstacle
in this navigation. The Brahmaputra River is navigable by steamers
throughout the year from its mouth to Tezpur and sometimes up to Dibrugarh
(1,280 km). It carries Assam oil. Tea, timber and jute to Kolkata. Pandu, and
Dibrugarh are important river ports. Navigation is difficult in the river due to
barrier effects of Bangladesh, presence of river islands, sand banks and
shoals and very strong current of the river during rainy season.
Peninsular rivers are mainly rained and go dry during the dry season. Hence,
these are not very suitable for navigation. Some transport is carried on in their
lower reaches where ground is flat and quantity of water is satisfactory.
Narmada, Tapi, Mahanadi, Godavari, Krishna and Kaveri are such rivers
navigable in their lower courses.
The Buckingham Canal (412.8 km) is an important navigation canal in
Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. It runs parallel to the eastern coast joining
all the coastal districts from Guntur to South Arcot. It is 315 km long north
of Chennai and 100 km south of it. Its northern part connects the Kommamur
Canal of the Krishna delta, while the southern part terminates in
Marakkanupi backwaters. The construction of the Vijayawada-Chennai rail
line has adversely affected the canal traffic. It is now mainly used for the
transport of salt and fire wood to Chennai city.
Similarly, Kurnool-Cuddapah Canal (116.8 km), Son Canal (326.4 km), Orissa
Canal (272 km), Medinipur Canal (459.2 km), Damodar Canal (136 km) and
West Coast Canal (connecting major ports along the western coast) are also
used for inland navigation. Some of the irrigation canals of Uttar Pradesh and
Punjab are also utilized for local transport.
Thus, developing river transport provides a whole new opportunity to ensure
an economic benefit for all by increasing trade region inland. For many types
of commodities, particularly such bulk commodities as grains, coal, and ore,
inland waterway transport is still more economical than any other kind of
transport. Thus, it is hardly surprising that modernized inland waterways,
using the latest navigational aids and traction methods and traversing the
great landmasses of North America, Europe, and Asia, play an increasingly
important economic role.
P.S.: The above data and statistics have been reference from various sites like
https://www.cbd.int/waters/importance
https://www.britannica.com/science/inland-water-ecosystem

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Canals and inland waterways, natural or artificial waterways used for

I would now be discussing about the challenges and possible solutions to

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