<img src='https://media.npr.org/assets/img/2024/07/18/7.19.24-ep-975d2c50c72a9907fa149a334f669bef429fdc6c.jpg' alt='Once completed, India's National River Linking Project will transfer an estimated 200 billion cubic meters of water around the country each year.’/>
More than a hundred years ago, a British engineer proposed linking two rivers in India to better irrigate the area and cheaply move goods. The link never happened, but the idea survived. Today, due to extreme flooding in some parts of the country mirrored by debilitating drought in others, India’s National Water Development Agency plans to dig thirty links between rivers across the country. It’s the largest project of its kind and will take decades to complete. But scientists are worried what moving that much water could do to the land, the people — and even the weather. Host Emily Kwong talks to journalist Sushmita Pathak about her recent story on the project.
Read Sushmita’s full story here.
Interested in more science stories like this? Email us at shortwave@npr.org.
(Image credit: STRDEL / Stringer)
The post India’s plan to reroute rivers could have unintended consequences on rainfall first appeared on EnviroLink Network.