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The Ganga River Basin document discusses the geography and flood problems of the Ganga River Basin. It notes that the Ganga River is formed by the confluence of the Alaknanda and Bhagirathi rivers in the Himalayas and flows over 2,525 km through 11 Indian states before emptying into the Bay of Bengal. Its major tributaries draining over 1 million square kilometers include the Yamuna, Ghaghra, and Gandak rivers. The basin has been divided into 23 river systems and states like Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal are most affected by floods which are caused by heavy rainfall, impediment of tributary flows, bank erosion, and river meandering.

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40 views1 page

Set 1

The Ganga River Basin document discusses the geography and flood problems of the Ganga River Basin. It notes that the Ganga River is formed by the confluence of the Alaknanda and Bhagirathi rivers in the Himalayas and flows over 2,525 km through 11 Indian states before emptying into the Bay of Bengal. Its major tributaries draining over 1 million square kilometers include the Yamuna, Ghaghra, and Gandak rivers. The basin has been divided into 23 river systems and states like Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal are most affected by floods which are caused by heavy rainfall, impediment of tributary flows, bank erosion, and river meandering.

Uploaded by

Sai Sudarsanam
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1 Introduction

1.1 Ganga River Basin

Two holy rivers originating from the glacial peaks of the Himalayas at an
altitude of about 7000 meter, the Alaknanda and the Bhagirathi unite near
Devprayag and form river Ganga which traverses its course of 2525 Km (1450 Km
in Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh, 110 Km along Uttar Pradesh-Bihar border, 445
km in Bihar and Jharkhand and 520 km in West Bengal) before its outfall into the
Bay of Bengal. The important tributaries which join the Ganga in its course are
the Ramganga, Gomati, Ghaghra, Gandak, Burhi Gandak, Kosi, Kamla, Bagmati
and Mahananda on the left and Yamuna, Tons, Sone, Kiul, Ajoy, Damodar,
Punpun and Rupnarayan on the right. A line diagram of river Ganga is placed in
Plate-1.1 at the end of this chapter. The Ganga river drains a total catchment area
of 10.68 lakh Sq. Km, out of which 8.61 lakh Sq. Km lies in India. All the major
left bank rivers draining into the Ganga are of the Himalayan origin. On the other
hand, out of the major right bank rivers only the Yamuna is of Himalayan origin
whereas the rest of the major right bank rivers originate either from the Vindhyas
or the plateau between the Ganga and the Vindhyas.

Ganga basin is spread over 11 States namely, (i) Uttarakhand, (ii) Himachal
Pradesh,(iii) Haryana, (iv) Delhi, (v) Uttar Pradesh, (vi) Rajasthan, (vii) Madhya
Pradesh, (viii) Chhattisgarh, (ix) Bihar, (x) Jharkhand and (xi) West Bengal.

The Ganga basin has been divided into 23 river systems. The river systems
of the basin are (i) Gomati, (ii) Adhwara Group, (iii) Ghaghra, (iv) Mahananda, (v)
Kamla Balan, (vi) Burhi Gandak, (vii) Bagmati, (viii) Punpun, (ix) Kosi, (x)
Gandak, (xi) Ajoy, (xii) Kiul-Harohar, (xiii) Damodar, (xiv) Mayurakshi, (xv)
Yamuna, (xvi) Ramganga, (xvii) Tons, (xviii) Badhua-Chandan, (xix) Rupnarain-
Haldi-Rasulpur, (xx) Jalangi, (xxi) Sone, (xxii) Tidal rivers and (xxiii) Main Ganga
Stem. Most of these rivers are inter-state though a few are within one state.

1.2 Flood Problem in Ganga Basin

Among the various Ganga basin States, the State of Bihar (particularly its
northern part), Uttar Pradesh (particularly its eastern part) and West Bengal are the
worst flood affected. The flood problems in the other Ganga basin States are not so
severe. The main reasons of flood in the Ganga basin are as under:

(i) Heavy precipitation for long duration in the catchment.


(ii) Impediment of flow in tributaries and catchment drains by the river
Ganga due to its high stage in monsoon season.
(iii) Bank erosion by the river during the monsoon season.
(iv) Meandering of river causing loss of land, property and life.

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