Will rivers of the past flow again?

CHANDIGARH: A crisis over water is brewing in north India, which is not new to such disputes. Despite the finality of the Supreme Court verdict over the SYL canal, there's no closure in sight. Meanwhile, in parched Haryana, ground water level has reached critical levels in 98 of the 119 blocks.

Out of the 13 blocks in Jaipur (Rajasthan), 10 are in the negative category with more withdrawal of water than recharge. The fields of Punjab, which cater to the country's foodgrain needs, are also threatened by water scarcity.

Still, there is hope. A team of experts, who studied the river Saraswati, considered mythical, suggested that almost all palaeochanneles in parts of Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and Gujarat can be artificially recharged and replenished with water. “The palaeochannels promise to hold substantial amount of water, acting as storage reservoirs augmenting groundwater resources,“ said the committee, headed by Prof K S Valdiya of Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research, Bengaluru, in its report submitted to the Central government.

“The aggregate length of palaeochannels in parts of Haryana, Rajasthan and Gujarat -is of the order of more than 2,200 km. Water is available in many of them,“ the committee said.

According to the experts, the task of recharging as many well-identified palaeochannels as possible should be treated as top priority. “It is indeed a part of the mission to replenish our fast-depleting underground water reserves based on well-thought out scientific methods,“ the committee said. In the dry western part of the Indian sub-continent encompassing Haryana, southern Punjab, Rajasthan and Gujarat, experts say, numerous palaeochannels have been identified and comprehensively investigated since the early nineteenth century by geomorphologists, geologists, geophysists, geohydrologists, archaeologists and remote-sensing specialists using high-end techniques.

A large number of exploratory wells have been dug along palaeochannels in these states to establish surface networks and buried palaeochannels constituting potential water, bearing aquifers in multiple groups and covering the entire plain of the drainage system.

According to the committee, the quality of groundwater in these palaeochannels is generally good. The significance of palaeochannels can be gauged by three palaeochannels identified in the Ganga basin between Haridwar and Roorkee. Encompassing a limited area of approximately 396 km, the committee, quoting different sources, said the three palaeochannels alone hold 4.65 billion cubic metres of freshwater. “The geometry of water-bearing bodies can be reconstructed for practical purposes,“ it said.

“It would therefore be rewarding to undertake measures to recharge a multitude of palaeochannels of the Sarsuti-Ghaggar-Hakra domain in Haryana and adjoining Rajasthan.These efforts would also sustain continued flow of underground currents that flow slowly but surely ,“experts said.