Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
Chapter 4
The
Ganga
's Hydrology
Of the 2,645 km course of the Ganga from its origin in the Himalayas to its outfall
in the Bay of Bengal, measured along the Bhagirathi-Hooghly, about 1,450 km lie
within Uttaranchal and Uttar Pradesh, about 550 km within Bihar and about 520 km
within West Bengal. The remaining course, of about 125 km, lies in border areas
between Bihar and UP. According to K. L. Rao, a former Union Irrigation Minister
of India, the Ganga basin in India is spread over 861,404 km
2
and across eight
States including the national capital, Delhi. This is about 86.5% of the total Ganga
basin, spread over about 1.06 million sq. km in India, 0.19 million sq. km in Nepal
and 9,000 km
2
in Bangladesh. The distribution of the basin area among the Indian
provinces is as in Table 4.1.
Of the total landmass of India (3,287,283 km
2
), the Ganga basin comprises about
26.2%. It is the biggest river basin in India, whose average width is about 340 km.
Seven major tributaries from the north and six from the south fall into it. The course
is almost east-west in direction up to Jangipur in West Bengal; south of it, the direc-
tion is north-south along the Bhagirathi-Hooghly; in this reach, there are five major
tributaries. The total catchment area of the northern tributaries is about 0.42 million
sq. km and that of the southern tributaries is about 0.58 million sq. km. The drainage
area of the tributaries of the Bhagirathi-Hooghly is 60,000 km
2
.
Rainfall in India is greatly influenced by mountains. Their size, shape and align-
ment determine the quantity and spread of rains in various parts of the country.
Table 4.1
Basin areas of the Ganga in different states of India
Sl.No Name of states
% of area
Covered area in lakh sq.km
1.
Uttar Pradesh
34.2
2.65
2.
Himachal Pradesh
0.5
0.06
3.
Punjab and Haryana
4.0
0.34
4.
Rajasthan
13.0
1.08
5.
Madhya Pradesh
23.1
2.02
6.
Bihar
16.7
1.55
7.
West Bengal
8.3
0.72
8.
National Capital Delhi
0.2
0.02
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