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.