India’s National River Linking Project

Proposed as an effective solution to the turbulent water future, the NRLP envisages meeting India’s future water needs up to 2050. The NRLP plans transferring surplus waters of the Ganga, Brahmaputra, Meghna, Mahanadi and Godavari river basins to the water scarce basins in the southern and the western parts. But, the proposed project is a major contentious issue in public discourses in India and outside India. On the one hand, opponents argue that the concept of NRLP itself is dubious and the water need assessment of the project is not adequate. The environmentalist view is that the assessment of water surpluses in river basins has ignored many ecosystem water needs. Activists say NRLP will displace millions of poor, mainly tribal population. And, others argue that the alternative water management options are less costly, easily implementable and environmentally acceptable. On the other hand, the proponents vision NRLP as the best option for facing India’s turbulent water futures. They argue that NRLP will increase the potentially utilizable water resources and address the regional imbalances of water availability due to spatial variation of rainfall. However, many of the arguments, for and against the NRLP project so far, are based on assertions and opinions, and lack analytical rigor.

Download this very interesting report at: http://www.iwmi.cgiar.org/Publications/Other/PDF/NRLP%20series%201.pdf