The Ganges Water Diversion: Environmental Effects and Implications — An Introduction

Abstract

Water is the most powerful agent in shaping the earth’s surface through the processes of rivers, glaciers, ground water, weathering, mass movement, and oceans. Water is also an important element that played a pivotal role in the development of the world’s civilizations. Since the dawn of civilization, humans have harnessed water in many different ways for their physical existence and the sustenance of the environment. They have devised ways of capturing, storing, purifying, and diverting freshwater resources to reduce their vulnerability to highly variable river flows and precipitation. Early agricultural civilizations developed in regions where precipitation and river flows were abundant and could be easily and reliably harnessed. Humans extended their river water-based transportation systems to sea travel and trade. With the growing need of goods, commodities and a safer environment, humans altered the natural hydrological cycle through massive engineering projects for water diversion, flood control, urban and rural water supply, hydropower, navigation and irrigation. The development of water resources served human societies in many positive ways as well as generated adverse effects. This book presents an analytical account of the effects caused by water diversions by major engineering works such as barrages1 and other structures built on the Ganges River (Figure 1.1) in South Asia.