Subarnarekha River: The Gold Streak of India

Abstract

Subarnarekha is a rain-fed river flowing in the eastern part of India and sustaining millions of people of Jharkhand, West Bengal, and Orissa. It originates near Nagri village in the Ranchi district and runs through some major industrial towns and cities, i.e., Jamshedpur, Chaibasa, Ranchi, Bhadrak before joining to the Bay of Bengal at Kirtania port in Orissa. Though the Subarnarekha basin is rich in mineral and mineral-based industries, it is still dominated by its agrarian economy. Agriculture, however, has not yet been properly developed within the Subarnarekha basin, and necessary inputs including irrigation facilities are still rather inadequate. Besides containing fertile lands, extensive mineral deposits of some important minerals occurred in the upper part of the river basin which facilitate for the establishment of a number of mineral-based industries along the Subarnarekha River banks. Some of the important mineral deposits of the Subarnarekha River basin are ores of copper, iron, uranium, chromium, gold, vanadium, kyanite, asbestos, barytes, apatite, china clay, talc, limestone, dolomite, and building stones. However, due to the unplanned and unregulated mining practices and mining waste disposal, the environmental condition of the river is deteriorating day by day. Discharge of untreated domestic and industrial wastewater generated from the towns and industrial areas into the river is also responsible for deteriorating water quality of Subarnarekha River. The lower catchment of the basin witnesses frequent flood and heavy siltation. The ecological degradation in the upper catchment of the Subarnarekha basin is mainly caused by severe deforestation, rapid urbanization, and fast soil erosion. Considering the great endowment of natural resources in the mineral-rich basin of the Subarnarekha River, it is high time that a well-integrated plan for flood prevention, pollution control, ecological development, and natural resource management has to be formulated for the basin. Such planning must included massive programs of reforestation, soil protection, water conservation, water storage, and moisture management throughout the catchment area, besides controlling the discharge of pollutants from towns, mining and industrial areas, and agriculture fields.