Brahamaputra Basin

Brahamaputra Basin
10. Conclusion
The Brahmaputra basin in India shows such a huge water resources potential provides lot of scope
for developmental activities for hydropower, navigation, irrigation, pisciculture, recreation and so
on. Average annual water potential of the basin is 537.24 BCM and the utilizable surface water is 24
BCM. The Brahmaputra and its tributaries carry more than 30 % of the total water resources
potential of the country. Besides, this region has the highest per capita and per hectare availability
of water in the country. However, due to many reasons, the development of water-resources in this
region is in nascent stage as compared to other parts of the country. Unlike other states of India,
irrigation is hardly practised for agricultural production in the nort-eastern region. In the mid sixties
only, few irrigation projects were developed in this region. Due to limitations of topography and
frequency of floods in lower reaches of the basin large scale irrigation is not feasible in Arunachal
Pradesh and Assam. The Brahmaputra basin has abundant hydropower potential. The region
possesses as much as 41% of the country's total hydropower potential. As per the latest assessment
the hydropower potential of the sub-basin is 31,012 MW at 60% load factor. It is also assessed that
Arunachal Pradesh alone has a hydropower potential of 26,756 MW at 60% load factor.Overall for
the region, despite the availability of large hydropower potential, current development is very small.
Several hydropower projects of this region are presently at various stages of operation,
development and planning. But, still there is growing concern about the possible negative impact of
the proposed large dams in terms of their sustainability in view of the high seismic base and the
extreme dynamism of geophysical processes in the region.
The problem of flooding is acute in the Brahmaputra valley. Drastic bank line changes and river bank
erosion is another severe problem in several vulnerable sections like Majuli, Palasbari, Rohmoria,
Bhuragaon, Bokuwal, etc. of Brahmaputra basin. Majuli the former largest riverine island is
drastically loosing its geographyical area due to the havoc flood and bank erosion. Agriculture, the
mainstay of most of the basin dwellers, suffers the most as a result of gross under-utilization of
existing water resources and the impact of ravaging flood and erosion hazards.
An integrated basin management approach for the rivers based on the principles of soil and water
conservation as well as sustainable development needs to be adopted. Proper utilised for hydro
power generation, irrigation and allied developmental purposes will definitely in turn considerably
reduce the magnitudes of flood hazards in the Brahmaputra valley.
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