Phase-2 of search for third stream on Kaushambi-Knp stretch begins
PRAYAGRAJ: The second phase of a high-tech survey by Indian and Danish scientists to search for further tracks of the subterranean third water stream has begun. A team of scientists belonging to National Geophysical Research Institute (NGRI), Hyderabad, and their counterparts from Denmark are busy concentrating on the stretch of land lying between the Ganga and the Yamuna: the land between Kaushambi and Kanpur, officials said.
The important survey, involving high-precision gadgets, follows a similar survey undertaken earlier by the team in 2018. That survey had found a third paleochannel (a dry river bed) beneath the surface from Prayagraj to Manjhanpur between the Ganga and the Yamuna.
The team of scientists has returned to trace and identify sources of this water and to discover new ways of water conservation.
This survey is being carried out by the Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) under the Namami Gange Project. The basic objective of this survey is to look for new ways for water conservation by inspecting the quality of water, they added, distancing the work from being seen as an effort to find the mythical Saraswati.
During phase-1 of this survey, a water stream was found between Prayagraj and Kaushambi. It was about 14 kilometres long and five kilometres wide. The water stream thus found in the earlier survey is extinct in contemporary times, but scientific survey found evidence of its existence many years ago.
In phase-2 of the survey being undertaken now, the scientists are conducting an aerial survey from Kaushambi (Manjhanpur) to Kanpur.
CGWB scientist Shashi Kumar said that the aerial survey is being carried out to a depth of 300 metres (around 1000 feet) beneath the earth surface.
“The primary objective of the second phase of research is to find how far the paleochannel goes so that water can be conserved, and its resources can be enhanced,” he explained.
The experts will study various components including soil, pebbles etc. These vital components give a fair amount of information about the amount of water in that particular area or in what proportion, he added.
Carbon-dating of the soil, collection of pebbles, sand and water specimens will be carried out by the team of scientists, who will be joined by scientists from the National Institute of Hydrology, Roorkee, in this effort.
Investigations are expected to conclude by the end of this month, findings of which will be forwarded to the Central Ground Water Board.
The equipment used by the team can extract relevant information from 200-400 metres beneath the earth crust and similar work has already been done in six districts in the country including Patna, Tumkur, Dosa and Nagpur among others.
The main equipment— transient electromagnetic sensors (TEM)—would be attached to a chopper which would fly along pre-decided longitudes between the two rivers, officials said.