Interesting Facts about Himalayan Rivers

· 14 major river basins in the country.

· The total water in all river systems = 16,45,000 million cubic metres.

· Ganga+Brahmaputra – contains 61% of total water.

· Perennial, snow fed rivers.

· The Himalayan Rivers are younger than the Deccan system.

· Carry 70% of total discharge of river water into the sea.

· The Ganga is the longest river in the country.

· Brahmaputra -2900km is longer than the Ganga but only a third of the river passes through India.

1. The Indus River:

· Length- 2880 km

· Himalayan Tributaries-- Dras, Gilgit, Zanskar etc.

· In Nari Khorsan province of Tibet, Satluj has created a canyon comparable to grand canyon of Colorado (U.S)

· According to Indus water treaty signed between India and Pakistan in 1960, India can utilize only 20% of total discharge of Indus, Jhelum and Chenab.

2. The Ganga System

· 2525 km long

· 1450 km – Uttrakhand

· Bhagirathi (Gomukh), Alaknanda (Badrinath), Mandakini (kedarnath)

· Yamuna - the longest tributary of Ganga- right bank tributary.

· 1375 km - flows parallel to Ganga upto 800km and then joins it at Allahabad.

· Tributary of Yamuna- Ken, Sind, Betwa, Chambal

· Ganga tributary- Kosi – sorrow of Bihar

· Damodar -sorrow of Bengal

· Hoogli -- Distributary of Ganga at Kolkata

3. The Brahmaputra system

· 2900 km

· Tributaries- Manas, Teesta

· Ganga + Brahmaputra joint stream called Padma

· Meghna is the most important tributary before entering to Bay of Bengal.

· Ganga + Brahmputra - forms biggest delta in the world -the Sunderban.

· Major part is in Bangladesh

· River island majuli- on Brahmputra (Assam). The biggest river island in the world.

· BP also called the red river- is navigable for a distance of 1384 km up to Dibrugarh- best inland water transport route.