Revitalization of Rivers in India Draft Policy - Isha Guru Jaggi Vasudev

Revitalization of Rivers In India
Draft Policy Recommendation
Rivers are made up of their tributaries, which are fed by rivulets,
that are in turn fed by springs in deep forests, or large lakes or glacial
meltwater, or simply from rains that flow off the surface or that come
through rocks or man-made channels. Many times the water in the river
is also sourced from underground aquifers that may have a higher water
table than the river itself.
The volume of water that flows in the river comprises of the visible
volume of free water flow along with substantial sub-surface water flows
contributed by rocks, gravel and the river’s floodplains. For many rivers,
the sub-surface volume of water flow may exceed greatly the visible free
water flows. 13
Throughout its entire course, the river not only transports water
but also sediments and other micronutrients from the upper reaches of
the river to the plains. The plains are usually the food basket of any river
basin. The sediments and micronutrients have a very important role to
play in keeping these plains fertile.
The entire area from which water is drained into a river is called its
catchment, drainage basin or watershed. The channel through which a
river usually traverses is called the river channel. The water that flows
in the river is usually confined to that river channel. In larger rivers, and
rivers where the seasonal flow changes, flood waters overflowing from the
regular river channels create wider floodplains.Floodplains may be wider
than the river channels when the river hydrographs are not straight lines,
i.e. when there is marked variation in the quantity of flow over time.
Neither the floodplains nor the river channels are clearly demarcated
by Nature. The `100-year floodplain’ is the riverside land that has a 1%
probability of flooding in any year, and is one of the accepted measures of
demarcating a floodplain.
Flooding of any river is a natural part of a river cycle. It is a
mechanism through which fertile and nutrient-rich sediments are
transported into the plains.
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