LOW WATER ON HOOGHLY EXPLAINED' BY ENGINEER

Manawatu Times, Volume LV, Issue 7201, 26 April 1930, Page 15

LOW WATER ON HOOGHLY EXPLAINED' BY ENGINEER

Fears of Drying Up TAPPING OP GANGES AND GOGRA THE CAUSE CALCUTTA, April 5. Every dozen years or so an animated discussion breaks out in Calcutta as to whether tho Hooghly, the mighty river on the banks of which- Job Charnock founded the “City of Palaces” two and a half centuries ago, is, or is not, drying up. This year an alarm was sounded by Mr. A. H. Watson, editor of the Statesman, in an address-deliv-ered to the Rotary Club. Mr. Watson adverted to tho seriou3 delays suffered by shipping during the last dry season owing to the want of a sufficient depth of water on the numerous sand bars which have to be crossed between Calcutta and the mouth of the river. He argued from this and from the various demands that were mado upon the river by up-country irrigation schemes that less and less water was flowing into the Hooghly, and suggested that unless the subject were thoroughly investigated a time might come when the cost of dredging the river might grow so expensive that the port of Calcutta would cease to attract shipping. On behalf of the other view, Mr. R. S. O’Brien, an officer in charge of the port approaches, maintained that the state of the river was actually better than it was five years ago, and mentioned that the fears about deterioration had begun to be felt as far back as 1666. He argued that there was nothing tho matter with Calcutta ’3 river, and that there was no prospect of Calcutta becoming a'deserted village.

The engineers who took part in tfie discussion leaned to Mr. Watson’3 view and one of them, in a letter to ths Statesman, points out a few significant facts upon -which he bases certain important recommendations. The Hooghly, he points out, is fed by the Jalinghi, Barhiratti and Matabanga, which are offshoots of. the Ganges. The life or otherwise of the Hooghly must depend, therefore, on the parent stream, -the Ganges, and those' interested in. the preservation of tho Hooghly must see to the preservation of the mother stream first and foremost. Allahabad had a water shortage this year. Did those who dwell on the banks of the Hooghly give this a thought and connect the phenomenon with tho low level of the Hooghly? Yet the low level of the one naturally accounts for the low level of tho other. To save the Hooghly one must therefore study the upper waters of th« Ganges and its principal tributary, the G-ogra, and trace the causes of low levels here which react on the lower branches. The cause of low levels on the upper waters is not far to seek. The Govern ment of the United Provinces is interested in canals for the supply of water for cultivation, and these canals take off from the main rivers. The volume of water from the hills and mountains docs not increase in proportion to that taken off by canals, and consequently levels in tho main rivers drop and shoals and bars form, and navigation along the rivers to theif entry to the sea is affected. This is the main cause of the trouble in the lower Hooghly. So long as canals increase and provincial governments continue to draw moro and more on the main streams, so long will the rivers deteriorate. What appears to bo indicated as a necessity is the making of the Ganges, with its tributaries and spills, an Imperial chargo with its particular board for studying the waters from their sources downward and tho controlling and checking of all off-takes.