Chambal river to get 5K cusecs every week to maintain ‘e-flow’

The Kota Command Area Development Authority has decided to release 5,000 cusec of excess water from the Kota barrage dam into the Chambal River once every week to maintain “e-flow” in the river to check pollution and accumulation of sewage.

The move follows a directive of the National Green Tribunal’s Bhopal central zonal bench to maintain environment flow or “e-flow in Chambal River downstream.

E-flow or environmental flow means the quantity, timing and quality of water flows required to sustain a river ecosystem, its aquatic life and the human livelihoods that depend on the river.

The green panel also directed that the excess water that can be safely made available for maintaining e-flow in Chambal river.

The directions were given by two-member central bench of NGT comprising judicial member justice Dalip Singh and expert member Dr Satyawan Singh Garbyal while hearing a petition filed by environment activist Babulal Jajoo.

A 25-km stretch of the Chambal River between the Kota barrage and Keshoraipatan in Bundi is polluted by sewerage discharged into the river due to the absence of regular release of water from the barrage.

The NGT’s Bhopal central zonal bench, in its March 27 order, while hearing a litigation filed by the Peoples for Animals in 2014, directed to maintain downstream e-flow in of the Chambal River to resolve the problem of sewage accumulation and river water pollution, said Kota divisional commissioner Raghuveer Meena, who heads the command area development authority.

“We have decided to release the excess water after curtailing the allocation to two industries in the city,” he said.

Asked about the release of excess water into the Chambal, Meena said it has been decided to release more than 5,000 cusecs of water for 35 minutes once every eight days on a trial basis to flush out accumulated sewage and pollutants from the river.

“The date to release the excess water will be taken at a meeting chaired by Justice Dalip Singh of the green tribunal’s central zonal bench, in Kota on Sunday,” he said.

“The NGT’s order for maintain e-flow will flush out accumulated sewage and other affluent discharged into the river to keep the water flowing as the flowing water has a self purification capacity.”

The Chambal River downstream receives natural water flow due to the terrain and topography of the region, he said.

“Industrial units have been asked to reduce the water intake from the river and recycle the allocated water for industrial use only.”