A river with a poetic name, “Subarnarekha” or the “Streak of gold,” is worth more than gold to the people living in its basin. Flowing through the three states of Jharkhand, West Bengal and Odisha, the river has nurtured millions of lives, including humans, flora, and fauna over the generations. Today, the river has lost much of its former glory. Worse still, it is slowly dying. So, here is the tale of the Subarnarekha and why we, the people, are responsible for degrading our own lifeline.
The Origin Of The Name
The river is believed to have received its name from its association with gold mining, which may have occurred at the village of Piska near the river’s origin. Over the centuries, gold has been extracted from sediments deposited in the river bed of the Subarnarekha and continues to happen even today, although extremely rarely. The river is known to pick up gold particles as it flows through the gold-bearing or auriferous rocks of the Panch Pargana plain.
According to another belief, the river received its name from the golden hue of its waters which scientists claim comes from the minerals washed away from iron-ore deposits in the lateritic plateau through which it flows.
Course Of The Subarnarekha River
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| Hundru Waterfall on the Subarnarekha River. Image credit: Skmishraindia via Wikimedia Commons. |
The Subarnarekha River traces its origins to a place near Nagri village in Jharkhand, about 15 km southwest of the state capital, Jhansi. It then flows through the Ranchi Plateau for 60 km before plunging over the cliff as the Hundru Fall, a 74 m drop. The river next enters a 25-m deep gorge, followed by its exit from the Ranchi plateau. It now flows through the relatively flat piedmont plain of the Panch Pargana, where it widens to around 500 m and flows for around 145 km. It again narrows to enter the Dalma Range and then the Dhalbhum valley.
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| The Subarnarekha River in Medinipur District of West Bengal. Image credit: Antorjal, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons |
It flows another 150 km before leaving Jharkhand and entering West Bengal’s Medinipur District. Here, it flows through relatively flat alluvial plains and finally empties into the Bay of Bengal in Odisha’s Balasore District at Kirtania.
Features Of Note
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| Eutrophication of the river's waters in the dry season. |
The Subarnarekha River flows for a total of 395 km, with 269 in Jharkhand, 64 in West Bengal, and 62 km in Odisha. It flows through major urban centers like Ranchi, Jamshedpur, Chaibasa, and Bhadraj. Its river basin’s catchment area is around 19,296 km2. It is a heavily rain-fed river which receives 82% of its annual flow primarily during the monsoon (June to September) and runs almost dry during the rest of the year.
Importance Of The Subarnarekha River
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| Chandil Dam on the Subarnarekha River. Image credit: Anupmahato via Wikimedia Commons. |
The Subarnarekha River supplies water for domestic usage to millions of households along its basin. Its water is also heavily used for the irrigation of agricultural lands. Since the region is rich in mineral deposits, mining is a major activity, and many large-scale industries depend on the river for their water supply. The river has also been dammed along its length to supply water for irrigation and hydroelectric power generation.
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| The Subarnarekha River sustains agriculture in its basin. |
The river also supports forests and other natural ecosystems along its length, and tribal populations living along it often depend heavily on it for their daily lives.
Subarnarekha In Danger
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| The heavily littered Subarnarekha River. |
The Subarnarekha is one of the country’s most polluted rivers. The high rate of unregulated, unscientific mining along the river’s banks in Jharkhand and Odisha has laden the river with high levels of contaminants. Even traces of radioactive waste from the uranium mining area have been detected in the river. The source of the river has almost dried up.
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| Dumping of industrial wastes on the banks of the Subarnarekha River. |
The river also receives a high volume of agricultural wastes and untreated sewage. Illegal sand mining along the river also threatens the river’s hydrology and ecology. Heavy deforestation along the riverbank has also increased soil erosion, leading to increased sedimentation in the river. Extreme weather events driven by climate change have also made the river’s flow unpredictable, leading to more frequent and intense flooding.
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