Let It Flow

Two private and one government owners of dams on the Ganga refuse to follow the upcoming water discharge guidelines necessary for the cleaning and rejuvenation of the river

- BANJOT KAUR NEW DELHI

THE FUTURE of government-prescribed minimum water discharge guidelines for the Ganga appears to be in jeopardy. These environmental flow (e-flow) norms stipulate the volume of water that dams and barrages must release to allow the river to naturally clean itself and protect its aquatic biodiversity. The e-flow norms were notified in September 2018 by the National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG), the apex body responsible for the cleaning and rejuvenation of the river, and are to be enforced from December 15, 2019. While all the barrages have started following them, owners of three dams have said that they cannot increase the flow from their reservoirs, as required by the notification, because it would reduce their power generation capacity and lead to huge financial losses. Two of the dams are owned by private companies while one is under the Uttarakhand government.

The Ganga has six dams and four barrages along its run in the country. In the upper Ganga basin (Tehri Garhwal to Haridwar in Uttarakhand), where all the dams are located, the notification prescribes three norms: the outflow should be 30 per cent of the monthly average inflow from June to September, which is the high flow season; 25 per cent in October, April and May; and 20 per cent from November to March, which is the lean period. For the middle Ganga basin (Haridwar to Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh), where all the barrages are located, the e-flow is different for each project.