Yamuna River and It’s Tributaries

Yamuna River is largest tributary of Ganga River, while Bangladesh’s Jamuna River is largest distributary channel of the Brahmaputra River. Yamuna is another sacred river of India that origins from Yamunotri Glacier at height 6,387 metres, on the south western slopes of Banderpooch peak, in the Lower Himalayas in Uttarakhand. From there it travels a total length of 1,376 kilometers and has a drainage system of 366,223 km², 40.2% of the entire Ganga Basin, before merging with the Ganga at Triveni Sangam or Prayag at Allahabad.

• From Uttarakhand, Yamuna river flows for some 200 kilometers in Lower Himalayas and Shivalik Ranges.
• Its largest tributary Tons River flows through Garhwal region in Uttarakhand, and meets Yamuna near Dehradun.
• The other rivers such as Giri, Rishi Ganga, Kunta, Hanuman Ganga and Bata tributaries meet Yamuna, before it descends on to the plains of Doon Valley, at Dak Pathar near Dehradun.
• Further down, Yamuna is met by the Assan River, lies the Assan barrage, which hosts a Bird Sanctuary as well.
• After passing Paonta Sahib, it reaches Tajewala in Yamuna Nagar district, of Haryana, where a dam built in 1873, is the originating place of two important canals, the Western Yamuna Canal and Eastern Yamuna Canal, which irrigate the states of Haryana and Uttar Pradesh.
• The Western Yamuna Canal (WYC) crosses Yamuna Nagar, Karnal and Panipat before reaching the Haiderpur treatment plant, which supplies part of municipal water supply to Delhi, further it also receives waste water from Yamuna Nagar and Panipat cities.
• Yamuna is replenished again after this by seasonal streams and groundwater accrual, in fact during the dry season, it remains dry in many stretches from Tajewala till Delhi, where it enters near Palla village after traversing 224 km.

Along with Ganga to which run almost parallel after it touches the Indo-Gangetic plain and creates the Ganga-Yamuna Doab region. From Delhi onwards Yamuna gets polluted due to discharge of waste water through 15 drains between Wazirabad barrage and Okhla barrage renders the river severely polluted after Wazirabad in Delhi

Tributaries of Yamuna

Betwa River

• Betwa or Vetravati originates in Vindhya Range just north of Hoshangabad in Madhya Pradesh and flows north-east through Madhya Pradesh and flow through Orchha to Uttar Pradesh. It meets Yamuna at Hamirpur town in Uttar Pradesh.

Sindh River

• Sindh River originates on the Malwa Plateau in Vidisha district, and flows north-northeast through the districts of Guna, Ashoknagar, Shivpuri, Datia, Gwalior and Bhind in Madhya Pradesh to join the Yamuna River in Etawah district, Uttar Pradesh.
• Manikheda Dam has been constructed across the Sindh River in Shivpuri district, Madhya Pradesh.

Hindon River

• Hindo River is a rainfed river that originates in the Saharanpur District. It flows between Ganges and Yamuna rivers and joins Yamuna river just outside Delhi.

Chambal River

• Chambal River is one of the most pollution free rivers of India.
• It’s a 960 Kilometer long river that originates at the Singar Chouri peak in the northern slopes of the Vindhyan mountains, 15 km West-South-West of Mhow in Indore District in Madhya Pradesh.
• From there, it flows in a northerly direction in Madhya Pradesh(M.P.) for a length of about 346 km and then in a generally north-easterly direction for a length of 225 km through Rajasthan.
• It enters U.P. and flows for about 32 km before joining the Yamuna River in Etawah District at an elevation of 122 m, to form a part of the greater Gangetic drainage system. Chambal is a rainfed river and its basin is bounded by the Vindhyan mountain ranges and on the north-west by the Aravallis.

Tributaries of Chambal:

• Banas River: Banas river is a rainfed river that flows in Rajasthan. Banas means hope of forests. It originates in Khamnor Hills of the Aravalli Range, about 5 km from Kumbhalgarh in Rajsamand and flows northeast through Mewar region of Rajasthan, meets the Chambal near the village of Rameshwar in Sawai Madhopur District. The cities of Nathdwara, Jahanpur, and Tonk lie on the river.
• Kali Sindh River: The Kali Sindh is a river in the Malwa region of Madhya Pradesh, that joins the Chambal River at downstream of Sawai Madhopur in Rajasthan
• Parbati River: Parbati River is a river in Madhya Pradesh, India that flows into the Chambal River. It is one of the Chambal River’s three main tributaries, along with the Banas River and the Kali Sindh River.