Flood and Water Resource Management in the Controlled Tropical River Damodar

The Damodar River, a subsystem of the mighty Ganga system, has always been notorious as a calamitous river like the Hwang Ho of China and the Kosi of India. People as well as governments throughout the centuries have dealt with the caprices of these vital water resources using different strategies. In the case of the Damodar, heavy embankments were used in its lower sector to reduce flood hazard in the Rarh plain. When the Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC) was first conceived and modeled after the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) of USA in 1948, the river was again controlled, this time through the construction of sophisticated engineering structures. This chapter focuses on the hydrogeomorphic consequences of lateral control structures. The riverbed has been raised, soil composition in the adjacent riparian tract has been changed, cross sections have been increased, and a number of spill channels have been opened on the right bank. In addition, shifting of banklines and bank erosion are observed on the left bank.