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There I am enjoying the fury of Mother Nature – Niagara
Falls, Ontario, Canada.
Photo Credit: Karthik Anand |
If there has been one topic making waves all
over US and India in past few days it is the rains and the
subsequent flooding. You hear all about the rainfall in
Karnataka and how water levels at Mettur have risen and everyone
gets into dreaming about a good harvest and happiness ever
after. They forget the seasons of drought and the grandiose
plans for inter-linking of rivers and rejoice. But isn’t this
the time we start planning for the next season of drought? And
one of the proposed methods is the inter-linking of rivers all
over India. This topic has been creating some interest and lots
of controversy on its way and it has been analysed quite a lot
before and so I am not stepping into those bounds. Let me tell a
story, the river story, I call it.
Long, long ago, in the days when man decided
to settle down, put down his roots, a group of people come
across this piece of paradise, wonderful weather, chirping
birds, flowing water, greenery all around. Well, every paradise
had its ugly spot, and these parts had some big swamps and a
huge network of small canals and lakes all over and man, the
determined creature he was, decided to dry out these swamps and
make life in paradise. And life bloomed on paradise, more swamps
were drained, more lakes filled, more homes built and more
families lived in paradise.
Well, if it were a fairy tale, I need to
conclude it saying ‘happily ever after’. Unfortunately, there
was no happily ever after. And the story goes on…
Years rolled by, more people moved into
paradise, and then there were politicians who came in, every
five years they visited their constituencies and promised to
drain the swamp and have more schools, more parks and work for
the betterment of society. Well, as you know, no politician
delivers his promise but in our story, everyone did help in
draining the swamps. And then rolled in disaster, thunder,
lightning, heavy winds and severe storms, flooding paradise and
killing people. The surviving residents of paradise were
heartbroken, distressed and begged for help. And there stepped
in the government, they send out the agency (henceforth referred
as GA). The GA, raring to go and solve problems of the public,
claim to control flooding and supply drinking water for the ever
growing population of paradise. The next 20 years GA builds
countless dams, canals, drainage ditches creating a network.
Their policy was simply dig, ditch, drain and dam, and to hell
with everything else. They changed the course of the flowing
river and built an enormous reservoir to supply water to the
residents of paradise. A mighty fine job, they called it. The GA
was praised and felicitated. Paradise residents were happy and
more residents from other parts decide to move to paradise,
after all it is paradise. Is this the end of
story? Happily ever after? Unfortunately no, the story goes on.
Fifty years later, there was trouble in paradise yet again, the
chirping birds were no longer around, there was no water to
drink and paradise was turning into hell. And again the
residents of paradise went running to the GA. And another major
study resulted, man now equipped with radar and enormous
databases and amazing scientific knowledge learnt that unless
the dams were broken and the river made to flow in its natural
course, paradise will, of course, turn to hell. Man realised
that there are certain rules of nature which he cannot change.
That meant another big effort, and years and money into
restoration of paradise. It meant houses built along the natural
course of the river had to be relocated, dams broken, and in
short a waste of all the efforts put in years earlier. Today,
paradise residents teach their kids, never mess with nature,
develop your lives around it, you cannot change the course of
nature. Is this a story concocted by V’s
confused brain? Unfortunately no, this is a real-life story.
Paradise is the Everglades natural system in the state of
Florida, USA, the flowing river is the Kissimmee River, the
chirping birds are the egrets and other wading birds, and GA is
the Army Corps of Engineers. Today a major Everglades
restoration project is under way and is one of the biggest
environmental projects in the US. People have realised changing
nature to suit mankind is not going to work.
Now, coming to India, the Ganga flows in its own course, floods
the northern plains with fertile alluvium. There are numerous
rivers all along and each has its own course. Are we going to do
the same mistake the Army Corps did in US 50+ years ago? In the
US, the damage was limited to one state as the river flowed
there, but in India’s ambitious project, the whole country is
under the axe. Legally, environmentally, the
hazards of such a project are going to be enormous. Has the
government studied the impact of the 200+ billion US dollars
project on the environment? The government calls the
interlinking of rivers a brilliant and innovative idea, it would
surely seem so to the layman, but as an engineer, I am taught to
be cautious, look at the impacts and after the example of the
Everglades, I feel the project will be a disaster to the
environment and the nation. What is your take on it?
- V
http://poohsden.blogspot.com/
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