Search the Globe with Google

Custom Search

INDIA TODAY - Breaking News Delivered Fastest so that it's DIVINE

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Our Deltas are Sinking

I was aghast at seeing the Ganges' water level at a recent visit to the Botanical Gardens. The flood waters were barely 2 feet from the railings.

Anyway.....Yet another factor why there is more flooding - due to lesser replenishment of sediments, the Deltas are sinking.

The various Dams that have been built across the Ganges and its tributaries come into mind. Ganges - well, the Tehri Dam. As to its tributaries, so many...starting from the Yamuna, Kosi and even the Tista.


Looking at a News Source : BBC . Reporting by R. Black

"Damming and diverting rivers means that much less sediment now reaches many delta areas, while extraction of gas and groundwater also lowers the land.
Rivers affected include the Colorado, Nile, Pearl, Rhone and Yangtze.
About half a billion people live in these regions, the researchers note in the journal Nature Geoscience.
They calculate that 85% of major deltas have seen severe flooding in recent years, and that the area of land vulnerable to flooding will increase by about 50% in the next 40 years as land sinks and climate change causes sea levels to rise"

No comments:

http://chitika.com/publishers.php?refid=debajyoti
Add to Technorati Favorites
Wikipedia Affiliate Button