Ganga-Kaveri link canal
Topic: Drainage System of India: Rivers, Basins and Patterns · NCERT: Class 11, Ch 3 "Drainage System"
Meaning
The Ganga–Kaveri link canal was a plan put forward by engineer K.L. Rao in 1972. It would have carried "surplus" Ganga water south to the Kaveri basin through a canal about 2,640 km long. The idea was to move water from the wet north to the dry south. It was dropped because the water would have had to be lifted (pumped uphill) about 450 m onto the Peninsular plateau. That needs huge amounts of energy and money. Class 11 NCERT gives it as an example of inter-basin transfer, which means moving water from one river basin to another.
Example
The canal was meant to take water from the Ganga in the northern plains, near Patna in Bihar, across the Deccan plateau to the Kaveri basin in Tamil Nadu.
Don't confuse with
- Godavari–Cauvery link: a newer and shorter Peninsular link. It would move Godavari water through the Krishna and Pennar basins to the Cauvery, so it does not need to lift Ganga water onto the plateau.
Related concepts
- Usability of river water
- Thalweg
- Interlinking of rivers
- Parbati-Kalisindh-Chambal-ERCP link
- Godavari-Cauvery link
- Inter-State River Water Disputes Act 1956
- Krishna water dispute
- Satluj-Yamuna Link canal