Ravi River
The Ravi River is a river in South Asia that flows through northwestern India and eastern Pakistan forming the boundary between the two nations for about 50 miles before travelling westwards across eastern Pakistan. It is one of five major rivers of the Punjab region.
Under the Indus Waters Treaty of 1960, the waters of the Ravi and two other rivers of the Punjab were allocated to India. Subsequently, the Indus Basin Project was developed in Pakistan, which transfers waters from western rivers of the Indus system to replenish the portion of the Ravi River lying in that country. Many inter-basin water transfers, irrigation, hydropower and multipurpose projects have been built in India.
History
According to ancient history traced to the Vedas, the Ravi River was known as .The Ravi was known as Purushni or Irawati to Indians in Vedic times and as Hydraotes and Hyarotis to the Ancient Greeks.
Part of the Battle of the Ten Kings was fought on a river, which according to Yaska refers to the Ravi river at Punjab.
Geography
The Ravi River, a transboundary river of India and Pakistan, is an integral part of the Indus River Basin and forms the headwaters of the Indus basin. The waters of the Ravi River drain into the Arabian Sea through the Indus River in Pakistan. The river rises in the Bara Bhangal, Kangra District in Himachal Pradesh, India. The river drains a total catchment area of in India after flowing for a length of. Flowing westward, it is hemmed by the Pir Panjal and Dhauladhar ranges, forming a triangular zone.River course
;Source reachImage:Manimaheshlake.jpg|right|thumb|Source of Budhil River, in Himachal Pradesh a major tributary of the Ravi River
The Ravi River originates in the Himalayas in the Multhan tehsil of Kangra district of Himachal Pradesh, India. It follows a north-westerly course and is a perennial river. It is the smallest of the five Punjab rivers that rise from glacier fields at an elevation of, on the southern side of the Mid Himalayas. It flows through Barabhangal, Bara Bansu, and Chamba districts. It flows in rapids in its initial reaches with boulders seen scattered in the bed of the river. The Ravi River in this reach flows in a gorge with a river bed slope of and is mostly fed by snowmelt, as this region lies in a rain shadow. Two of its major tributaries, the Budhil and Nai or Dhona join downstream from its source. The Budhil River rises in Lahul range of hills and is sourced from the Manimahesh Kailash Peak and the Manimahesh Lake, at an elevation of, and both are Hindu pilgrimage sites. The entire length of Budhil is where it has a bed slope of. It flows through the ancient capital of Bharmwar, now known as Bharmour in Himachal Pradesh. During 1858–1860, the Raja of Bharmour had considered the Budhil valley as an excellent source of Deodar trees for supply to the British Raj. However, a part of the forest surrounding the temple was considered sacred and declared a reserved area. The second tributary, the Nai, rises at Kali Debi pass, and flows for, with a bed slope of, from its source at Trilokinath to its confluence with the Ravi. This valley was also exploited for its forest wealth during the English period.
Another major tributary that joins the Ravi River, just below Bharmour, the old capital of Chamba, is the Seul River from the northern direction. The valley formed by the river was also exploited for its rich timber trees. However, the valley has large terraces, which are very fertile and known as "the garden of Chamba". Crops grown here supply grains to the capital region and to Dalhousie town and its surrounding areas. One more major tributary that joins the Ravi River near Basohli is the Seva. This river was also exploited for its forest resources, originating from the Jammu region. The valley is also formed by another major tributary that joins the Seul River, the Baira-Nalla. Its sub-basin is in the Chamba district, located above Tissa. Baira drains the southern slopes of the Pir Panjal Range. The valley has an elevation variation between.
Tant Gari is another small tributary that rises from the subsidiary hill ranges of the Pir Panjal Range east of Bharmour. The valley formed by this stream is U-shaped with a river bed scattered with boulders and glacial morainic deposits.
;Main Ravi River
The main Ravi River flows through the base of Dalhousie hill, past the Chamba town. It is at an elevation of . It flows into the south-west, near Dalhousie, and then cuts a gorge in the Dhauladhar Range, before entering the Punjab plain near Madhopur and Pathankot. It then flows along the Indo–Pak border for before entering Pakistan and joining the Chenab River. The total length of the river is about.
The Ujh River is another major tributary of the Ravi River. Its source is in the Kailash mountains at an elevation of, close to the Bhaderwah Mountains in the Jammu district. After flowing for, it joins Ravi at Nainkot in Pakistan.
As the Ravi flows past Lahore in Pakistan it is called "The river of Lahore" since that city is on its eastern bank. After passing through Lahore the river takes a turn at Kamalia and then debouches into the Chenab River, south of the town of Ahmadpur Sial. On its western bank is the town of Shahdara Bagh with the Tomb of Jahangir and the Tomb of Noor Jahan.
; Change of river course
According to satellite imagery studies carried out over a period of 20 years, the river coursing along the India–Pakistan border meanders substantially in the alluvial plains of the Amritsar, Pathankot, and Gurdaspur districts of Punjab. This has resulted in successive damage in India as a result of the river changing its course towards India. The reason attributed to this change in the course of the river is massive river training structures/bunds constructed by Pakistan in its part of the river, close to the old course of the river. The shift in the course of the river is reported to be towards India.
; River water pollution
In the transboundary Ravi River flowing from India to Pakistan, in urban areas of Lahore the pollution levels in the river discharge are reportedly very high, which is attributed to careless disposal of large amount of industrial and agricultural wastewater and faulty drainage systems in both countries. A stretch of the Ravi River from Lahore Siphon to Baloki headworks indicates heavy contamination of the water and sediment with Cd, Cr, Pt, and Cu. Recent reports suggest that the river stands as the most contaminated globally, with pharmaceutical residues such as paracetamol, nicotine, caffeine, and medications for epilepsy and diabetes detected in its waters. The river sediments are highly contaminated and have become a secondary source for pollution of the river water, even though some control over unauthorised discharges into the river have been checked. Hence, measures to check metal re-mobilization from sediments into the river flows need attention. The worst affected drainage is the Hadharaam drain, a tributary of the Ravi River. It is also a trans-border problem involving both India and Pakistan. A UNDP funded special programme was launched in 2006 to address the issue in both countries.
Flora
The northern portion surrounding the Ravi is the lifeline of many different flora, notably deodar, walnut, holly oak, mulberry, alder, edible pine, Himalayan cypress, chinar, Daphne papyracea, north Indian rosewood, olive, and Toxicodendron acuminatum.Hydrology
The waters of the Ravi River are allocated to India under the Indus Waters Treaty, signed by India and Pakistan. Within India, the river is under the jurisdiction of the riparian states of Punjab, Jammu & Kashmir, and Himachal, and non-riparian states of Haryana, and Rajasthan, but the management is presided by the Supreme Court of India and the Ravi Beas Tribunal, set up in 1986 for the purpose. The annual flow in India up to the final crossing point in Pakistan is out of which 6.971 MAF is available upstream of Madhopur headworks. Most of the water generated below the Madhopur headworks is flowing into Pakistan from India.Pre-partition utilisation
On the Ravi River, the earliest project built was the Madhopur Headworks, in 1902. It is a run-of-the river project to divert flows through the Upper Bari Doab Canal to provide irrigation in the command area of the then unified India. Government of India has assessed the pre-partition use in India at. Prior to partition, it irrigated 335,000 hectares of land in Gurdaspur, Amritsar and Lahore districts.Hydropower
The hydropower potential of the Ravi River system has been assessed at 2294 MW, of which only 1638 MW has been harnessed cumulatively, thus leaving 656 MW wasted opportunity. The hydropower potential developed since the 1980s is through the installation of the Baira Suil Hydroelectric Power Project of 198 MW capacity, the Chamera-I of 540 MW capacity commissioned in 1994, the Ranjitsagar Multipurpose Project of 600 MW capacity completed in 1999 and the Chamera-II of 300 MW capacity in the upstream of Chamera-I commissioned in 2004.Multipurpose development
The major multipurpose project built on the river is the Ranjit Sagar Dam. The left bank is in Punjab and the right bank is in Jammu and Kashmir. It is located on the main stem of the Ravi River, about upstream of Madhopur Headworks. The project is an outcome of the development plan conceived for the use of the waters of three eastern rivers allocated to India under the Indus Treaty, namely the Sutlej, the Beas and the Ravi, for irrigation, hydropower generation and other consumptive uses.A proposal for building a storage dam on the Ravi River was initially planned in 1912, envisaging a high dam. A committee later conducted a survey of the area, but it was not until 1954 that geologists fully inspected the project area. In 1957, a storage Dam was proposed on the Ravi River for irrigation purposes only. The power generation aspect was not considered then. It was only in 1964 that the project was conceived for multipurpose development and submitted to Government of India for approval. Finally, in April 1982, the project was approved for construction by the Government of India.
The project, as built now, has a high earth gravel shell dam with a gross irrigation potential of of land and power generation of 600 MW.
The geomorpohological setting of the river basin, which has a large number of terraces between Dhauladhar and Pir Panjal ranges, is attributed to the truly Himalayan characteristics of the river reflecting the "cis-Himalayan tectonic; structural, lithological and climatic conditions. Obviously it is different from the antecedent Indus and Sutlej".
Journalist Waqar mustafa has extensively documented the environmental degradation of the river in his historical research, including the book Story of Modern Indus.