Inconsistency, or A Conspiracy? - The Ganga: Water Use in the Indian Subcontinent - page 122

Table 8.5 Three-yearly and five-yearly moving averages for the annual flow and lean season flow
of the river from 1975 to 1995

Moving average Moving average

Year Total flow 3-yearly 5-yearly Lean season flow 3-yearly 5-yearly

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

1975 426,250 - - 31,010 - -

1976 396,310 - - 43,500 - -

1977 433,930 418,800 - 36,560 37,020 -

1978 539,830 456,690 - 49,300 43,120 -

1979 256,620 410,130 410,590 42,330 42,730 40,540

1980 486,370 427,610 422,610 32,500 41,370 40,840

1981 390,250 377,750 421,400 37,380 37,400 39,610

1982 375,710 417,440 409,760 46,300 38,720 41,560

1983 373,280 379,750 376,450 33,020 38,900 38,300

1984 400,500 383,170 405,220 61,370 46,890 42,110

1985 448,470 407,420 397,640 32,270 42,220 42,070

1986 375,080 408,020 394,610 40,350 46,670 42,660

1987 398,140 407,230 399,100 35,580 36,070 40,520

1988 402,580 391,990 404,950 35,740 37,220 41,060

1989 343,750 381,490 393,600 45,200 38,840 37,830

1990 435,980 394,100 391,110 40,110 40,350 39,400

1991 370,110 383,280 390,110 43,960 43,090 40,120

1992 248,240 351,440 360,130 28,870 37,650 38,780

1993 340,660 319,670 347,750 28,670 33,830 37,360

1994 389,960 326,270 356,990 33,780 30,440 35,080

1995 363,550 364,720 342,500 43,370 35,270 35,730

Rebuttal

I. Regarding (a) above, snow-melting reduces when the snow-line comes down
with gradual decrease in its altitude, or if snow accumulates less in the moun-
tains. Snowline also comes down if atmospheric temperature falls and the earth
cools gradually, an unlikely phenomenon in times of global warming. Thus,
snow-melting, cannot be a reason of fall in the volume of water in rivers.
II. As regards (b), it is true that in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, the Ganga and many
of its tributaries have been shackled by dams and barrages of various heights
for storing surplus water in monsoon months and use them for water resource
development projects. In the upper reaches of the Ganga, barrages have come
up at Tehri Garhwal (Narora Barrage), at Bijnor (Madhya Ganga Barrage) and
at Haridwar (Bhimgoda Barrage) - all in Uttar Pradesh. Construction of one
more barrage at Kanpur in UP is under way. Most of the barrages were con-
structed before the one at Farakka but a few of them have been strengthened
for more storage and head-up of water after the Farakka Barrage came up.
Barrages have also been constructed before Farakka over many sub-Himalayan
and sub-peninsular tributaries of the Ganga on both sides, namely (i) Wazirabad