Rivers

Illegal sand mining in rivers, beaches serious, needs to be curbed: SC

Terming illegal rampant sand mining as serious, the Supreme Court on Wednesday said such activities needed to be effectively dealt with and asked five states including Tamil Nadu, Punjab and Madhya Pradesh to provide facts and figures on the issue. The top court was hearing a 2018 PIL filed by one M Alagarsamy seeking a CBI probe into illegal sand mining in rivers and beaches in Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh. The plea alleged that unregulated illegal sand mining wreaked "environmental havoc" and authorities concerned have allowed entities to operate without the mandatory environmental plan and clearance. A bench comprising Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar said it needed to check whether a similar petition against the National Green Tribunal order on illegal sand mining was pending in the top court. Illegal sand mining is a serious issue and needs to be dealt with effectively, the CJI said, when advocate Prashant Bhushan, ...

B'desh to hold talks with India over sharing of rivers: Dhaka official

Bangladesh will soon take steps to hold negotiations with India over the sharing of water of transboundary rivers, an adviser of the interim government said on Wednesday. India and Bangladesh were set to sign a deal on Teesta water sharing during then-Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit to Dhaka in 2011, but West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee declined to endorse it, citing a scarcity of water in her state. Speaking at a seminar titled 'Bangladesh's Fair Share of Water in Shared Rivers' here, Water Resources Adviser Syeda Rizwana Hasan said Bangladesh would soon take steps to hold negotiations with India over the sharing of water from transboundary rivers, state-run BSS news agency reported. She said that the negotiations will be held after considering public opinion and the outcomes of the talks will be shared with the people. Rizwana said although the water sharing of international rivers is a complex issue, the exchange of essential information should not be a political

Many rivers touch danger levels in few districts of Bihar after heavy rain

With heavy rain lashing various parts of Bihar in the last 24 hours, major rivers, including Kosi, Mahananda, Bagmati, Gandak, Kamla Balan and Kamla, were flowing above the danger level at many places, a bulletin issued by the Water Resources Department said on Sunday. The rivers were flowing above the danger mark at several places, while in some places they touched the warning levels, it said. The water level of Bagmati River has touched the danger mark at Sitamarhi, Muzaffarpur, Sheohar, Aurai and Suppi and other adjoining areas. "The water level of Bagmati River, as recorded at 8 am on Sunday, in Sitamarhi and Suppi was 71.16 metres, which is 0.16 metre above the danger level. Likewise, Bagmati crossed the danger mark in Muzaffarpur, Sheohar, Aurai and Piprahi," the bulletin said. "In Gopalganj and Sidhwalia, Gandak River is flowing above the danger mark of 62.22 metre (till 8 am on Sunday). Similarly, Kamla Balan River touched the danger mark in Madhubani, Lakhnaur and ...

Water level of rivers in Bihar rising due to incessant rain, say officials

Water level of different rivers in Bihar have started rising at several places due to torrential rain in the last 24 hours, officials said on Saturday. Light to moderate rain was recorded in many districts, including Banka, Begusarai, Bhagalpur, Bhojpur, Buxar, Gaya, Jehanabad, Kaimur, Katihar, Khagaria, Munger, Nalanda, Patna, Nawada, Purnea, Saran, Sheikhpura, Siwan and Vaishali since July 4, according to the latest rainfall bulletin issued by the Water Resources Department (WRD). In East and West Champaran districts people living in low-lying areas have been shifted to safer places by the district administrations, they said. "The incessant rain in certain districts in the state caused rivers and streams to overflow. The increased inflow also caused the water level in many dams to rise. Besides, incessant rainfall in catchment areas of Nepal has also led to rivers touching or flowing above danger level at several places", officials said. "Owing to moderate to heavy rain in certai

Earthquake 2,500 years ago could have changed Ganga's course: Study

An earthquake around 2,500 years ago could have caused the Ganga river to abruptly change course, according to a new study published. Researchers said the "undocumented" quake, possibly of magnitude 7-8, rerouted the main channel of the river in present day Bangladesh, a country vulnerable to big seismic shocks. "I don't think we have ever seen such a big one (earthquake) anywhere," said study co-author Michael Steckler, a geophysicist at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia Climate School, US. "It could have easily inundated anyone and anything in the wrong place at the wrong time," Steckler said. The study was published in the journal Nature Communications. Originating in the Himalayas, the river Ganga eventually combines with other major rivers, including the Brahmaputra and the Meghna, before culminating in the Bay of Bengal. The rivers form the world's second-largest system, the Amazon being the largest. Many river-course changes, called 'avulsions', including some tha

Remove encroachments on banks of rivers, ponds: CM Yogi to officials

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has asked officials to immediately remove encroachments on the banks of rivers and ponds. He issued the instructions at a meeting on Thursday. "There are encroachments on the banks of Ramganga river in Moradabad. A similar situation can be seen in Kashi, Saharanpur and other districts," the Chief Minister's Office (CMO) said in a post on X quoting Adityanath. "At present, efforts are being made for the revival of the Kukrail river in Lucknow. Illegal settlements have been removed and (their residents have been) rehabilitated elsewhere. Similarly, work should be done in other districts as per local requirements," he said. The chief minister asked the officials to ensure there are no settlements in the river basin. "Old ponds, ponds and other water bodies should be preserved. If there are any encroachments, they should be removed immediately," he said. A drive to demolish illegal constructions in Akbarnagar I and II along the Kukrail riv

South water reservoir levels down 46%: Central Water Commission bulletin

The live storage in 150 reservoirs of the country was 45.3 bcm as on May 16, 2024. It was 57.4 bcm in 2023

East flowing rivers between Mahanadi, Pennar have no water at present

Rivers between Mahanadi and Pennar basins that flow through Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Odisha have no water at present, according to the Central Water Commission data. Rushikulya, Bahuda, Vamsadhara, Nagavati, Sarada, Varaha, Tandava, Eluru, Gundlakamma, Tammileru, Musi, Paleru and Manneru are the rivers left with no water, with experts blaming reduced monsoon, changing rainfall patterns, catchment degradation and groundwater depletion for it. Nitin Bassi from the Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW) said their analysis of the Mahanadi river basin has suggested adoption of micro irrigation systems and altering cropping patterns could reduce the water deficit from 24 per cent (in a business-as-usual scenario) to about 18 per cent of the water supply requirement. The Central Water Commission (CWC) has detailed the state of water storage in reservoirs, noting that live storage capacity has dwindled to just 35 per cent of the total capacity. The reservoirs in Andhra Prade

Offerings in rivers: NGT allows DPCC, UPPCB to file responses in 4 weeks

The National Green Tribunal has allowed the Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) and the Uttar Pradesh Pollution Control Board (UPPCB) to file within four weeks their responses regarding throwing worship offerings in rivers Ganga and Yamuna. The tribunal was hearing a matter where it had taken suo motu cognisance of a newspaper report regarding pollution in the two rivers because of the throwing of flowers and garlands offered in puja (worship) in polythene bags in their ghats. A bench of NGT Chairperson Justice Prakash Shrivastava said that DPCCs counsel failed to point out the committee's response on the issue. The bench, also comprising judicial member Justice Sudhir Agarwal and expert member A Senthil Vel, noted that the counsel's submissions about submitting "a fresh proper response" covering the issue within four weeks. In an order passed on March 18, the bench noted that there was a similar plea of filing its response within four weeks from the UPPCBs counsel. Allowing

IIT-G researchers develop model to understand water flow in braided rivers

Researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati (IITG) in collaboration with the Brahmaputra Board, under the Union Ministry of Jal Shakti, have developed a model to understand the flow of water in large braided rivers. The initiative is aimed at providing valuable insights to engineers to design sustainable structures for river bank protection measures, a researcher said on Friday. The model - BRAHMA-2D (Braided River Aid: Hydro-Morphological Analyzer) - was successfully validated on the Brahmaputra river near Majuli Island, the second largest freshwater river island in the world and prone to river bank erosion. It will help understand how fast water moves at different depths in a river, he said. The research, led by Prof Arup Kumar Sarma of the Department of Civil Engineering, has developed the comprehensive mathematical model to help predict river flow variations across depths, which is "crucial for flood and erosion control, agriculture, water supply intake design a

Uttar Pradesh govt to leverage network of rivers for cargo movement

Of the 111 inland waterways in India, UP has a dozen waterways in major rivers including the Ganga, Yamuna, Saryu, Betwa and Chambal

JP Nadda, CM Dhami attend Ganga Aarti at 'Har Ki Pauri' in Haridwar

In the meeting, Nadda reviewed the preparations for the Lok Sabha elections of the party in Uttarakhand. State President Mahendra Bhatt, MP and former Chief Minister were present in the meeting

Over 10,000 evacuated as areas near Pakistan's River Sutlej get flooded

Punjab Caretaker Chief Minister Mohsin Naqvi said that the concerned authorities are monitoring the flood situation as 278000 cusecs of water rushed near Ganda Singh Border, Kasur

Yamuna in Delhi likely to cross danger mark around 11 am Tuesday: Atishi

The Yamuna in Delhi is likely to cross the danger mark around 11 am on Tuesday as a large quantity of water is being discharged into the upper reaches of the river, Delhi minister Atishi said on Monday. The Public Works Department minister, who inspected the preparedness for evacuation and relief work, said water is rushing in the Yamuna towards Delhi very fast due to very heavy rainfall in north Indian states. "Around 43,000 cusecs of water was being discharged into Yamuna from Haryana till yesterday morning that has increased to nearly three lakh cusecs now. We expect the level of water in Yamuna to reach danger mark around 10-11 am on Tuesday," she told PTI. The warning level of water in Yamuna in Delhi is 204.50 metres while the danger mark is 205.33 metres.

Atmospheric Rivers caused 70% of floods between 1985-2020, says study

The devastating floods that occurred in the country between 1985 and 2020 during the summer monsoon season were directly associated with Atmospheric Rivers, a phenomenon of a stream of water vapour moving in the sky like a river flowing on the land, says a new study. It says severe weather events like the 2013 Uttarakhand floods and the 2018 floods in Kerala that claimed several lives were all due to severe Atmospheric Rivers (ARs). The study, jointly conducted by climate scientists from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Gandhinagar, the National Institute of Technology, Srinagar, and the University of Washington, says a warming climate is increasing the moisture-holding capacity of Atmospheric Rivers, which leads to concerns about more devastating floods in the future. "We examined landfalling ARs during the summer monsoon, which has implications for water resources and deleterious flood hazards in India since they can deliver enormous amounts of precipitation within a few .

Receding glaciers to cut flows of rivers like Indus, Ganges: UN chief

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres warned that major Himalayan rivers like the Indus, the Ganges and Brahmaputra, all hugely important for India, could see reductions in their flows as glaciers and ice sheets recede over the coming decades due to global warming. "Glaciers are critical to all life on earth. Over centuries, they carved out the landmasses we call home. Today, they cover 10 per cent of our world. Glaciers are also the world's water towers," Guterres said in his remarks to an event on the International Year of Glaciers' Preservation Wednesday. Guterres voiced concern that human activity is driving the planet's temperature to dangerous new levels and "melting glaciers are the canary in the coalmine". Antarctica is losing an average of 150 billion tons of ice mass every year while the Greenland ice cap is melting even faster losing 270 billion tonnes per year. In Asia, 10 major rivers originate in the Himalaya region, supplying freshwater to 1.3 billion people living

US-France launch satellite to map the world's oceans, lakes, rivers

A US-French satellite that will map almost all of the world's oceans, lakes and rivers rocketed into orbit Friday. The predawn launch aboard a SpaceX rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California capped a highly successful year for NASA. Nicknamed SWOT short for Surface Water and Ocean Topography the satellite is needed more than ever as climate change worsens droughts, flooding and coastal erosion, according to scientists. "We're going to be able to see things that we could just not see before ... and really understand where water is at any given time, said Benjamin Hamlington at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. About the size of an SUV, the satellite will measure the height of water on more than 90 per cent of Earth's surface, allowing scientists to track the flow and identify potential high-risk areas. It will also survey millions of lakes as well as 1.3 million miles (2.1 million kilometres) of rivers, from headwater to mouth. The satellite w

India, Bangladesh sign deal on water sharing, six other treaties

Prime Minister Modi and his visiting counterpart Sheikh Hasina say bilateral cooperation between nations growing

Meet on water sharing on August 25 ahead of Bangladesh PM's visit

Ahead of Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's visit to India, a minister-level meeting of the Bangladesh-India Joint Rivers Commission is scheduled on August 25, sources said. No official comment has been made by the government but sources said water-sharing treaties of the Teesta and other rivers may be discussed in the meeting. Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is expected to travel to India on September 5 on a three-day visit during which defence cooperation and regional stability are likely to be the focus of the talks with her Indian counterpart Narendra Modi, an official said on Monday. The Teesta river dispute is an important point of bilateral talks between India and Bangladesh, as the latter has sought a fair and equitable distribution of Teesta waters from India. The two countries signed an agreement in 2011 to share surface waters at the Farakka Barrage near their mutual border. However, the proposed deal was called off after repeated objections by West Bengal

Andhra: Godavari turns ferocious, record flood expected in next 3 days

Andhra Pradesh is on the brink of a worst flood after a gap of 36 years as river Godavari has been turning ferocious by the hour, threatening to inundate tens of villages