Hopefully Nitish Kumar read this article

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http://dailypioneer.com/indexn12.asp?main_variable=OPED&file_name=opd5%2Etxt&counter_img=5 Embankments cannot tame meandering Kosi Our policy-makers have got it all wrong: In trying to control floods in Bihar, tens of thousands of crores have been wasted, writes Sudhirendar Sharma Amid widespread panic and anxiety, the devastating floods in Bihar have also raised the demand for a high dam in the upper reaches of Nepal. But Kathmandu -- having received a 'raw deal' in the 1953 Kosi and 1959 Gandak water-sharing treaties -- now argues that neither high dam nor its exaggerated benefits favour Nepal. The present deluge upstream of the Bhimnagar barrage on Kosi has only amplified the accumulated apprehensions. As a member of the independent fact-finding mission in early-March, the dilapidated state of the barrage could not convince me that it could carry its designed water discharge of 950,000 cusecs. The silt-choked east and the west bank canals emanating from the barrage only added pressure on the main structure and the embankments upstream. Sharing its preliminary findings with the media, the fact-finding mission had warned: "Not only are floods in Bihar man-made but the worse has yet to come should the political economy of flood control continue to promote 'embankment' as the only solution to the scourge of floods." New Delhi has got its flood action plan consistently wrong over the years, and so has Patna. Yet, both never stop either blaming the rains or Kathmandu for it. Like floods, it is an annual ritual for politicians in Bihar to reiterate that Nepal has released water and that a high dam is the only solution to control floods. Little do the unsuspecting masses realise that if there is no dam, how can water be stored upstream? But the myth persists. Shockingly, however, flood control measures over the years have turned north Bihar into a watery grave for millions. Jacketing the silt-laden rivers has helped flood-prone area increase three-fold in the State since independence, from a low of 25 lakh to a high of 68 lakh hectare today. It amounts to no less than 73 per cent of the entire area that remains flood-prone. It is tragic that a worst flood only sends alarming signals, emergency aerial surveys and fresh relief packages being the temporary outcome. That over two million people are permanently trapped between the flood control embankments and an estimated eight million are faced with acute water-logging outside of the embankments are hard facts that continue to be ignored, year after year, by policy-makers. What instead gets attention is jacketing of the rivers. Over 3,465 km-long embankments have been built in Bihar since 1952. More are in the offing; a Rs 792 crore package to tame the Bagmati has been approved and another proposal to embank the tributaries of Mahananda at an estimated cost of Rs 850 crore has been planned. Engineer Captain FC Hirst in 1908 had commented: "...in recent times, on the left bank of the Kosi in Purnea district private enterprise has copied the work of the makers of the Bir Band, giving temporary relief, which, as will be seen later, is probably a menace to 'future welfare'." This century-old observation has proved prophetic ever since. Embankments may work on those rivers that are stable and carry moderate silt load. Kosi, in contrast, is a meandering river with maximum available energy producing currents. Having drifted 160 km in past 250 years, the natural tendency of the meandering Kosi disproves the traditional 'steady-state' equilibrium approach of the engineers. Once embanked, its incredible silt load only adds to its defiant nature. The embankments have proven counterproductive in the case of Kosi, arresting the natural dispersion of sediment on the floodplains, thereby increasing deposition, raising the level of riverbed and later breaking of embankments, causing floods and water-logging. Thanks to embankments, the Kosi riverbed has risen by 12 to 15 feet on account of silt deposition that otherwise would have been spread on the floodplains. So, can a high dam over Kosi really reverse Bihar's misfortune? While silt deposition by the river is one major issue impacting a dam's lifespan, its proposed location in Nepal's Brahashetra will capture only 78 per cent of river's catchment, leaving significant 22 per cent flows dangerously unattended. What then is the option? Having failed to tame rivers Rhine and Meuse, the Dutch hydrocracy has come to the conclusion that absolute safety from flooding cannot be guaranteed through technical-infrastructural measures. Adopting spatial flood protection measures, they are now implementing 'room for the river' approach with broad political support. It is measures like these that need to be negotiated with Kathmandu, but not before the political stables in Patna (and in New Delhi) are cleaned of their misconceptions.