The Narmada Canal is a

contour canal A contour canal is an artificially-dug navigable canal which closely follows the contour line of the land it traverses in order to avoid costly engineering works such as boring a tunnel through higher ground, building an embankment over lower ground ...

Western India Western India is a loosely defined region of India consisting of its western part. The Ministry of Home Affairs in its Western Zonal Council Administrative division includes the states of Goa, Gujarat, and Maharashtra along with the Union ...

that brings water from the

Sardar Sarovar Dam The Sardar Sarovar Dam is a concrete gravity dam built on the Narmada River in Navagam near the town of Kevadiya, Narmada District, in the state of Gujarat, India. The dam was constructed to provide water and electricity to four Indian state ...

to the state of

Gujarat Gujarat (, ) is a state along the western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the fifth-largest Indian state by area, covering some ; and the ninth ...

and then into

Rajasthan Rajasthan (; lit. 'Land of Kings') is a state in northern India. It covers or 10.4 per cent of India's total geographical area. It is the largest Indian state by area and the seventh largest by population. It is on India's northwestern ...

state. The main canal has a length of ( in Gujarat and then in Rajasthan). It is the second longest canal in India (after the

Indira Gandhi Canal The Indira Gandhi Canal (originally, Rajasthan Canal) is the longest canal in India. It starts at the Harike Barrage near Harike, a few kilometers downriver from the confluence of the Satluj and Beas rivers in Punjab state, and ends in irriga ...

) and the largest canal by water carrying capacity (40,000 cusec at source). The main canal is connected with 42 branch canals providing irrigation to farmland (about 18 lakh hectares in

and 2.5 lakh hectares in

). The canal is designed to transfer 9.5 Million acre-feet (MAF) (approx. 11.7 Billion cubic metre (BCM)) water annually from the Narmada Basin to areas under other river basins in Gujarat and Rajasthan. (9 MAF for Gujarat and 0.5 MAF for Rajasthan). Soon after the completion of the construction project, the Narmada canal was inaugurated on 24 April 2008. It has carrying capacity of 40,000

cubic foot Cubic may refer to: Science and mathematics * Cube (algebra), "cubic" measurement * Cube, a three-dimensional solid object bounded by six square faces, facets or sides, with three meeting at each vertex ** Cubic crystal system, a crystal system w ...

per second (cfs or cusec) at its head in Navagam and is decreased to 2,600 cusecs at Sanchore. On the way, Narmada main canal crosses many rivers and water bodies. The main canal itself can hold 220 MCM (Million

cubic metre The cubic metre (in Commonwealth English and international spelling as used by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures) or cubic meter (in American English) is the unit of volume in the International System of Units (SI). Its symbol is m ...

) of water at full supply depth. It is designed not only for the water supply but also the storage of water to improve the response time of the system.

Irrigation in Gujarat

The main canal has 38 branches in Gujarat.

Saurashtra Branch Canal

Saurashtra Branch is the largest of these branches which has a length of 104.46 km and discharge of . The Saurashtra branch canal has 3 mini

hydroelectricity Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies one sixth of the world's electricity, almost 4500 TWh in 2020, which is more than all other renewable sources combined an ...

plants to utilize the energy from water at the fall of in first 59 km. Subsequently, in the 59 to 104.46 km span it has five pumping stations to pump the water up before tailing into Bhogavo - II reservoir.

Irrigation in Rajasthan

Although the Narmada River does not flow through Rajasthan and no area of Rajasthan falls in the Narmada basin, considerations were made to irrigate its lands with the water from the Narmada River that flows through the neighboring state of Gujarat, to encourage peasants to settle in the areas along the international border with Pakistan. After traversing in Gujarat, the Narmada canal enters Rajasthan near Shilu in the Sanchor

tehsil A tehsil (, also known as tahsil, taluka, or taluk) is a local unit of administrative division in some countries of South Asia. It is a subdistrict of the area within a district including the designated populated place that serves as its adminis ...

of Jalore. The main canal, with 9 major distributaries, serves an area of , including 124 villages. In total, it was designed to irrigate in 233 villages in Jalore and Barmer and provide drinking water to 1,336 villages. The Narmada canal has a few unique features compared to other projects: # Irrigation water is delivered to farmer groups, via Water Users Associations (WUA), not to individual farmers. WUAs are responsible for the operation and maintenance of field water canals. # Micro-irrigation systems such as

drip Drip or DRIP may refer to: * Mesomycetozoea, a class of eukaryotes also known as the DRIP clade * Drip gas, natural gas condensate * Drip irrigation, in agriculture and gardening * Dripping liquid * Drip email (campaign), the process of automa ...

and sprinklers to be encouraged for efficient water usage.

Solar panels

Solar canal A solar canal is a canal fitted with solar panels, increasing their efficiency, and reducing evaporation and land usage. The first operative system was installed in Gujarat, India in 2014. Benefits By placing solar panels above water, evaporati ...

s are being installed along a pilot project section of the Sanand Branch Canal near Chandrasan village to generate of electricity. The solar panels are forecast to also reduce evaporation of water from the canal by per year.

References

{{Narmada basin Narmada River Canals in India Canals opened in 2008

Irrigation in Gujarat

Saurashtra Branch Canal

Irrigation in Rajasthan

Solar panels

See also

Further reading

References