Description
Book SynopsisThis important new study investigates the competing demand for water in the Bhavani and Noyyal River basins of south India from the early 19th century to the early 21st century from a historical perspective. In doing so, the book addresses several important questions:
* Did policy-makers visualise the future demand while diverting water from distant places or other basins?
* Was efficient use ensured when the water was diverted or was it diverted in a manner that resulted in pollution and serious damage to the entire river basin?
* Were natural flows taken care of in order to preserve the ecology and environment?
* What were the factors that aggravated the competing demand for water and what were the consequences for the future?
In the context of the current discourse on the competing demands for water, this book takes the debate forward, expanding the horizon of environmental history in the process. Until now, agriculture, industry and domestic water supply a
Trade Review
Through a fascinating series of microstudies, Velayutham Saravanan's scholarship insightfully highlights the vital role of the physical environmental in modern South India. Importantly, this fine book particularly concentrates on the multiple issues of water (supply, distribution, and pollution) during the period from the late British Raj to today’s independent Republic of India. * Michael Fisher, Robert S. Danforth Professor of History, Oberlin College, USA *
Melding agrarian history with urban history and situating industrialization within a broader socio-economic context, this sophisticated and sobering study makes water central to the writing of environmental history. Scholars and policy professionals will benefit immensely from reading this work. * Kalyanakrishnan Sivaramakrishnan, Dinakar Singh Professor of India and South Asia Studies, Yale University, USA *
[T]his book is a useful addition to the growing literature on the specificity of the historical trajectory of rivers in South Asia. In addition to previously unexplored archives, there is a wealth of statistical information here that would be useful to a wide readership, including policy makers, economists, and development studies experts. * Technology and Culture *
Table of Contents
List of Maps List of Tables List of Appendices Author Note Preface Acknowledgements Acronyms Measurements 1. Introduction 2. Hydrology, Commercialization and Ecology 3. Population, Urbanization, Industrialization and Demand for Water 4. Water Supply Schemes and Conflict 5. Canal Irrigation, Technology and Conflict 6. Disasters of Linking Rivers 7. Conclusion Glossary Bibliography Index
