Author(s): Gupta Subhadip
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Abstract: e-Flow is such a concept which refers the minimum flow to maintain the riverine environment. Maintenance of natural patterns of longitudinal and lateral connectivity in river-floodplain systems determine the ability of many aquatic species to move between the river and flood plain or between the main river and its tributaries. Loss of such kind of connectivity can lead to local extinction of species (Arthington, 2003). Iyer (1998) stated that water itself is a part of nature and one cannot presume to allocate water to nature and the minimum flow or environmental flow in rivers is better than no flow condition. The stress is given on the terminology of ‘natural flow’ than the ‘minimum flow’. e-Flows are needed for maintaining the river regime, making it possible for the river to purify itself, sustaining aquatic life and riparian vegetation, recharging ground water and supporting (Sharma, 2005). The emerging science of environmental flow aims to provide the balance between the human use and the conservation of natural water resources. Government of India constituted Water Quality Assessment Authority (WQAA) to look after the rivers to maintain ‘minimum flows in rivers to conserve the ecosystem’.
Year: 2022