Newsletter No. 62;
IRBMS
Dihing or BurhiDihing River: It originates at project located across the district of N. Cachar hills
2375m. above msl in the Patkai hills of Eastern in Assam and Jaintia hills in Meghalaya, run by the
Himalayas in Arunachal Pradesh and flows to North Eastern Electric Power Corporation and
Tinsukia and Dibrugarh in Assam to its confluence consists of the Khandong and Umragso dam, and
with River Brahmaputra at Dihingmukh. Its three power houses that have a total installed
watershed covers about 6000 sq. km. The river has capacity of 275 MW. The unscientific coal mining
created a number of ox-bow lakes in the area. The in the Kopili’s upper reaches in Meghalaya has led
Disam is a tributary of Dihing in Southern bank. to the acidification of the river, which has in turn
The Joy-Dihing, Rainforest, numerous petroleum left part of the river’s course biologically dead,
fields, wet paddy fields, bamboo orchards and tea making the water unfit for human consumption,
garden provide a unique landscape along its and has led to frequent outages at the Kopili HE
course. The betel nuts are produced in most of the project’s dams.
areas of Dihing plains.
(Contd..)
Kopili River: It is an interstate river in north east
India that flows through the status of Meghalaya
Special Feature:-
India’s worst water crisis is booming large
and Assam, and is the largest south bank tributary
of the River Brahmaputra in Assam. The river India is now facing its worst nightmare the water
originates in the Meghalaya Plateau, and flows crisis. Centuries of mismanagement, political and
through southern Assam before its confluence with institutional incompetence, indifference at Central,
Brahmaputra River. It drains the district of Karbi State and Municipal levels, steadily increasing
Anglong, Dima Hasao, Kamrup and Nagaon and population and booming middle class demanding
flows for a total length of 290 km. having a more and more protein-rich diet that requires
catchment area of 16,420 sq.km. It is noted for significantly more water to produce – together
several spectacular waterfalls along its course these are leading the country towards disaster.
which has several deep gorges and rapids in the 120 Interstate disputes over river waters are becoming
km. of its flow before debouching into the plains of widespread. Not a single Indian city can provide
Nagaon district. Completed in 1975, the Kopili clean water that can be consumed safely. And
Flow Irrigation scheme in Kamrup district irrigates there is an absence of serious and sustained
1300 hectares of land across 14 revenue villages and attempts at the Central or State levels to manage
facilitates paddy cultivation. The Kopili H.E.
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Integrated River Basin Management Society