For the first time in more than four decades, Jharkhand State Electricity Board (JSEB) has initiated an ambitious proposal to desilt the Getalsud reservoir in order to ensure continuous hydel power generation for at least six months in a year. Located across River Subarnarekha, 40km from Ranchi city, construction of the Getalsud multi-purpose reservoir was completed in 1971. The reservoir, with a catchment area of 717sqkm, has a full reservoir level of 1,954ft.

Jharkhand High Court on Wednesday directed Tata Steel to prepare an action plan to remove slag from Kharkai and Subernarekha, the rap coming three days before the founder’s day celebrations and after almost a decade of shifting views on the contentious issue of industrial waste poisoning Jamshedpur’s border rivers.

A slag-choked Subernarekha may hope to breathe easy sometime soon. The Jharkhand State Pollution Control Board (JSPCB) — possibly chastised by a CAG report on Jharkhand’s poor conservation of rivers — has served a 15-day deadline to steel wire manufacturer Usha Martin, asking it to state measures taken to check dumping of industrial waste in the river or face closure.

Guwahati, Feb. 28: The Tarun Gogoi government has not taken a stand on the Supreme Court ruling in favour of the river-linking project as the subject was in the “national interest”, but said it would not allow Assam’s needs to be compromised. The Opposition BJP, on the other hand, came out in full support of the verdict but appealed for a separate strategy and planning to manage the rivers of the Northeast for its overall development.

Chief minister Arjun Munda on Sunday laid the foundation stone of a Rs 6-crore rural drinking water project at Manpur village, Baharagora block in East Singhbhum, about 100 kilometres from Jamshedpur, signalling his government’s commitment to the hinterland. Accompanied by deputy chief minister Hemant Soren and Bahragora MLA Vidyut Barun Mahto, Munda expressed his concern over the acute problem of drinking water in rural Jharkhand.

A number of public and private sector enterprises have put the state in a legal fix by refusing to cough up water tariffs that have been imposed by the government. At a review meet held in the state capital yesterday, officials found out that both the Hatia and Chakradharpur divisions of South Eastern Railway had not paid a single paisa as tariff, though both had been regularly drawing water from the Subernarekha river.

Garbage from Adityapur has found a new address — the banks of Kharkai, which is one of the major tributaries of Singhbhum’s lifeline Subernarekha.
Two truckloads of domestic waste, equivalent to 400 cubic feet, are being emptied on the waterfront every day, turning the erstwhile oasis into an eyesore and olfactory challenge.

Ranchi, Jan. 15: A first-ever water pollution audit carried out by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has pegged Jharkhand at the bottom of the performance chart with most river conservation projects lying incomplete in the state. According to the report, Performance Audit of Water Pollution in India, the Ganga, Damodar and Subernarekha were selected for pollution abatement projects in Jharkhand under the National River Conservation Programme (NRCP), which was launched in 1995.

Bhubaneswar: The proposed all-weather multipurpose port near the Subarnarekha river mouth in Balasore district has received environmental clearance of the Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC) of the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF). The project is to be developed by Chennai-based Creative Port Development Limited (CPDL), and a company has been formed under the banner of Subarnarekha Port Private Limited (SPPL).

puzzled crusaders collect river samples for tests, JSPCB ‘ignorant’ and unfazed. It may look like the surf’s up in Subernarekha. But environmentalists are anything but enchanted by the extraordinary appearance of the river that has earned its charming name from erstwhile gold deposits near its origin in Piska, Ranchi. Gallons of foam and froth have layered the waters, which have also turned inky black from swampy green, over the past fortnight, prompting curious onlookers to throng a bridge near Namkum railway crossing from where the river almost resembles a giant soap basin.