Multipurpose River Valley Projects

Dams were traditionally built to impound rivers and rainwater that could be used later to irrigate agricultural fields. Today, dams are built not just for irrigation but for:

• electricity generation,
• water supply for domestic and industrial uses,
• flood control,
• recreation,
• inland navigation,
• fish breeding etc.

Hence dams are now referred to as multipurpose projects where the many uses of the impounded water are integrated with one another. For example, in the Satluj-Beas river basin, the Bhakra Nangal project water is being used both for hydel power production and irrigation. Similarly, the Hirakud project in the Mahanadi basin integrates conservation of water with flood control.

Multipurpose projects, launched after independence with their integrated water resources management approach, were thought of as the vehicle that would lead the nation to development and progress. But in the recent years, multipurpose projects and large dams have come under great scrutiny for a variety of reasons:

• Regulating and damming of rivers affects their natural flow causing poor sediment flow and excessive sedimentation at the bottom of the reservoir, resulting in rockier stream beds and poorer habitats for the rivers’ aquatic life.
• Dams also fragment rivers making it difficult for the aquatic fauna to migrate, especially for spawning.
• The reservoirs that are created on floodplains also submerge the existing vegetation and soil leading to its decomposition over a period of time.
• In geologically unstable areas, development of large dams can destabilise the land. The 2013 Uttarakhand Floods triggered a debate on whether the hydropower projects operational in Uttarakhand were responsible for the floods that killed more than 1000 people.
• Inter-state water disputes are also becoming common with regard to sharing the costs and benefits of the multipurpose projects.

Source

A List of Important River Water Projects in India: