The State of India's Rivers: Flowing Troubles

Since rivers provide more than 60% of the country's surface water, they are a significant source of water in India. Some of the country's major rivers are the Ganga, Brahmaputra, Indus, Godavari, Krishna, and Narmada.

• The availability of water and its uses
• The quality of river water and the effects of urbanization
• River Basin Management

The availability of water and its uses

In India, river water is widely utilized for many different purposes, such as agriculture, hydropower generation, tourism, ecological balance, industrial, domestic, and religious uses.

In India, agriculture uses 90% of the fresh water consumed, with 60% coming from riverine surface water and the remaining 40% from ground water.

A study by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) found that the industry uses 15% of all fresh water withdrawals for cooling, cleaning, and other purposes.

According to recent data, India produces 46850.17 MW of elctricity through hydropower and the use of river water, accounting for 11.59% of the country's total electricity production. 

It contains several well-known hydroelectric power plants, including Bhakra Nangal Dam, Sardar Sarovar Dam, Tehri Dam and more. 

In india, rivers play a critical role in maintaining ecological balance, supporting agriculture, sustaining forests, and supporting all other ecological systems. without rivers, the earth would simply be a desert or a piece of land.

With 140 crore people, nearly 80% of whom are Hindu, India is the most populous country in the world. Of course, India is also a culturally and religiously rich nation where rivers are revered as holy sites.

Several festivals, including Kumbh Mela, Chhath Puja, Ganga Dussehra, Narmada Jayanti, and Yamuna Jayanti, have a direct connection to rivers.

The quality of river water and the effects of urbanization

Rivers are an integral part of India's religious festivals, but people are also throwing their festival trash and destroying their offerings into the rivers. People in this scenario need to be aware of the importance of river water to human life and the importance of water quality. additionally, because groundwater is readily available in India. people there often use it instead of surface water because they are unaware of the connection between surface and ground water.

According to data from the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), 63% of India's sewage runs untrated into rivers each day. In India, every day, more that 38 million litres of untreated municipal sewage are released into the environment. 

Industrial waste, such as chamecals and factory waste, is discharged into rivers through sewers in urban areas. The Yamuna River in one of the many rivers that is particularly affected by industrial waste. The Yamuna River, which flows from Delhi to the northern region of India, is among the most polluted rivers in the country. In certain areas, the Ganga River is also affected by urban waste, as are the Mithi, Sabarmati, Krishna, and many other rivers.

River Basin Management

Since water channels are known to be interconnected, traeting every river in a basin is preferable to treating a single river, river basin management is an approach to managing water resources that views the basin as a whole.

River basin management takes into account a number of management-related factors, including the management of water resources, water quality, the impact of the climate and ecosystems, and more.