Development Aspects Impressum Editors

Inter-basin water transfer through the Sardar Sarovar Project

The Sardar Sarovar Project on the River Narmada is a multi-state, multi-purpose river valley project, borne out of deliberations of a constitutional body, following the principles of “equality of right” and “equitable utilization” of the whole course of an interstate river. This unique project is planned to irrigate 1.905 million ha of land, increase agricultural production by 8.7 million tons per annum (worth US$430 million), generate environmentally friendly hydropower with installed ca- pacity of 1,450 MW, supply drinking water to 8,215 villages and 135 urban centres of Gujarat (around 20 million population), generate 1 million jobs – mostly in rural areas, and prevent rapid processes of desertification, salinity ingress and rural-to- urban migration being experienced in many parts of Gujarat. The command area and drinking water supply areas of the project are exactly the worst water scarcity- hit areas of the State (Gupta, 2003).

Table 4. Sardar Sarovar dam height and storage increase in Sardar Sarovar Project





Source: Sardar Sarovar Narmada Nigam Limited, 2009 Abbreviations: MAF = million acre feet

2. Increased dam height and storage

With a concerted strategy and satisfactory compliance with the project obligations in terms of rehabilitation of project-affected persons and environmental measures, the dam height was raised to 100 m in 2003, 110.64 m in 2004 and 121.92 m in 2006 (table 4). This facilitated a much higher increase in storage of Narmada waters.

Raising the dam height and the corresponding increase in the storage capacity have significantly improved the water supply. The real benefits of the project which were awaited for almost 15 years have now started flowing. Diversion of Narmada water to the main canal of the project (world’s largest lined irrigation canal) was just 705 million cubic metres (MCM) in 2001, but it spectacularly increased to 5,195 in 2003 and to 6,194 MCM in 2004. Although the water flow decreased in subsequent years because of consecutive good monsoons, it remained to the ex- tent of 4,201 MCM in 2005, 4,292 MCM in 2008, 5,870 MCM in 2008 and 5,870
MCM in 2009. The construction of the main canal was also completed in 2008 and water supply to the neighbouring State, Rajasthan, began in March 2008, fulfilling the real objective of this project as an interstate river project.
What’s more, with the command area covering around 500,000 ha, significant interlinking has been achieved in many rivers by the interbasin transfer of Narmada waters using the Sardar Sarovar Canal Network.

3.