The Curse Turned Blessing
Bihar comes up with a first-of-its-kind project to tap into and supply Ganga’s floodwater from its northern districts to the parched southern regions
Every monsoon, Bihar finds itself in a peculiar quandary. Just when the state’s northern districts are grappling with floods due to the overflowing Himalayan rivers that drain into the mighty Ganga, affecting more than two million families year after year, about 20 districts in the south found themselves trapped in a drought-like situation. The reasons for water deficiency are aplenty: smaller feeding rivers in the south, except the Son; rocky or sandy soil; and irregular rains, to list a few.
One morning in late 2018, Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar, an engineer-turned-politician, was discussing the issue with a select group of bureaucrats and politicians, when he came up with an idea. How about engineering a system that could treat and transport floodwater from the state’s northern plains to its drought-prone areas in the south?
But when the water resources department started its research to turn the CM’s idea into a practicable solution, there was not a single precedent to be found across India. Then, in June 2019, Nitish expanded his cabinet, assigning the water resources portfolio to his close confidant Sanjay Jha. Subsequently, an agreement was stitched up with Hyderabad-based Megha Engineering and Infrastructures Limited (MEIL) to take the project to fruition.
The aim was to draw the excess Ganga water during the four monsoon months (June-September), and store and treat it for the year-round supply of potable water to the historical cities of Rajgir (Nalanda district), Gaya and Bodh Gaya (Gaya district), situated about 90-130 kilometres south of state capital Patna. The core of the ancient Magadha empire with links to the founders of both Buddhism and Jainism, it is among the most parched regions in Bihar, where the locals, stuck with dried hand pumps for most of the year, have to call in water tankers from adjoining districts.
But bringing the surplus Ganga water to the region was easier said than done, admits water resources secretary Sanjay Agarwal. If the two Covid-19 waves in 2020 and 2021 slowed down the project’s progress, there were even bigger engineering challenges to overcome. Tapping the floodwater was one thing, but then transporting it over an undulating topography while making way through the existing
infrastructure was a whole new ball game. In fact, the water pipelines had to encounter a total of 29 road crossings, 28 river, stream and big drain crossings, 11 oil pipeline crossings and seven railway crossings. So, while the engineers were involved in drawing a model to negotiate all these infrastructural and topographical challenges, the bureaucrats, in addition to monitoring the project’s progress, had to reach out to several central agencies for their noobjection clearances.
But the water resources department remained focused on the job at hand. And finally, an idea that initially seemed to be out of reach saw the light of day, when Nitish Kumar launched the Rs 4,000 crore Ganga Water Supply Scheme, or the Gangajal Aapurti
Yojana, in late November last year. “The Ganga water which has reached your household will not only be used for drinking but also bathing, cooking and other purposes... It will also help in meeting irrigation requirements by improving the groundwater level in these districts,” the CM announced during the project launch in Rajgir, according to local media reports.
These are still early days. As of now, nearly 100,000 houses in Rajgir, Gaya and Bodh Gaya, or half a million of population, are being provided treated Ganga water through taps in their houses. On average, each individual is getting about 135 litres of water daily for drinking and domestic use. Another water treatment plant being built in Nawada, 25 kilometres southeast of Rajgir, will purify 36 million litres of water daily for supply to the Nawada township. It should become operational by the year-end, say department officials.
If the idea—of turning the devastating floodwater into a boon for Bihar’s parched regions—is ingenious, its execution is an example of engineering excellence. It involves moving millions of litres of water from Hathidah, situated on the banks of the Ganga in Patna district, through an intricate network of both underground and aboveground steel pipelines, running as high as 123 metres above mean sea level at Jethian Hills near Gaya. First, the water is shifted to a detention centre at Motnaje in Nawada (to minimise friction and transit loss), from where it is further transported to three large reservoirs—two in Gaya and one in Rajgir, with the farthest located over 150 km from Hathidah—before being treated and supplied to various households via an additional network of pipelines, treatment plants and supply stations.
As of now, the project’s capacity is adequate to cater to the projected population till 2051. But, the network is being expanded further to reach other parts of Gaya, Nalanda and Nawada districts. More importantly, officials say, the project will act as a model to replicate and supply floodwater from Ganga and its tributaries to other water-starved areas of the state. ■