Canals, reservoirs and hydropower can help, but the Brahmaputra requires a permanent basin strategy rather than relief after every monsoon
By Obnews Editorial Staff
GUWAHATI, July 31, 2026: Salman Khan, Alia Bhatt, Bhumi Pednekar and other film personalities have appealed for support as Assam recovers from another destructive flood. Salman Khan launched a campaign through Being Human and the Salman Khan Fan Club Assam, beginning with food, drinking water, purification tablets, sanitary supplies and other essentials in Sivasagar. Alia Bhatt drew attention to the recurring nature of the disaster and asked supporters to assist organizations working on the ground. News18 reported on the campaign.
The relief is welcome, but it also raises an uncomfortable question. Why does a flood that returns almost every monsoon continue to be handled as if it were an unexpected emergency? Official figures reported on July 30 placed the 2026 death toll at 80, while about 2.12 lakh people remained affected as the water receded. At the height of the crisis, more than seven lakh people were reported affected across eleven districts. The numbers may decline with the river, but destroyed homes, farmland, livestock, roads and livelihoods do not recover as quickly.
Assam floods so frequently because of its geography. The Brahmaputra and Barak systems receive water from more than 50 tributaries, including rivers descending rapidly from Arunachal Pradesh, Bhutan, Meghalaya and other high rainfall areas. The Assam government estimates that approximately 39.58 per cent of the state is flood prone, almost four times the national proportion. It also acknowledges that three or four flood waves can affect the state in a typical year. See the Assam Water Resources Department’s assessment.
The Brahmaputra is not a stable river running through one permanent channel. It is a vast braided system that carries an exceptional quantity of sediment from the Himalayas. When the river reaches the flatter Assam Valley, its flow slows and deposits silt in sandbars and channels. The riverbed, islands and banks continually change, increasing erosion and making conventional permanent structures difficult to protect. NASA describes the Brahmaputra as having one of the world’s highest sediment loads per square kilometre. See NASA’s explanation of the braided Brahmaputra.
This means that all flooding cannot and should not be eliminated. Seasonal water replenishes wetlands, deposits fertile soil, sustains fisheries and supports varieties of rice adapted to the floodplain. Attempting to confine the entire river permanently between hard walls could transfer risk downstream, accelerate erosion or create catastrophic damage when a structure fails. The objective must be to manage flooding, protect lives and reduce destructive inundation while preserving the ecological functions on which local communities depend.
It would be inaccurate to say governments have done nothing. Assam has constructed embankments, spurs and erosion protection works for decades. The Brahmaputra Board has prepared master plans, the Central Water Commission operates forecasting systems and disaster authorities maintain shelters and evacuation procedures. A twelve year Assam Integrated River Basin Management Program is also underway with World Bank support. Its first phase included a $108 million loan for improved forecasting, green infrastructure, flood shelters and protection works, as part of a larger proposed $500 million program. See the World Bank project summary.
The stronger criticism is that these efforts have often been fragmented, delayed or concentrated on repairing damage rather than changing exposure. A Comptroller and Auditor General review found that Assam’s Water Resources Department had not prepared the comprehensive basin plans needed before executing individual schemes. It reported that projects were sometimes selected according to immediate vulnerability and available funding without integrated targets. The audit also found that Assam had not adopted floodplain zoning and that 111 of 423 flood control projects sanctioned between 2007 and 2017 remained incomplete. Read the CAG performance audit.
Permanent canals could form part of a better strategy, but one canal cannot solve the Brahmaputra problem. Carefully designed drainage channels can move local rainwater from towns and fields into safe storage areas. Feeder canals can divert a controlled portion of monsoon water into wetlands, irrigation reservoirs and groundwater recharge zones. Navigation and irrigation channels could create additional economic value during normal conditions.
However, a canal large enough to absorb a major Brahmaputra flood would require enormous land, continuous dredging and several safe outlets. The same sediment that creates sandbars in the river would enter the canals, reduce their capacity and demand expensive maintenance. If the receiving river or wetland were already full, a canal could simply move flooding from one community to another. Canal construction must therefore be based on detailed elevation, sediment and flood modelling, not only on the appealing idea that excess water can be redirected.
Storage deserves greater attention. Off channel reservoirs, restored wetlands, village ponds and controlled retention basins can hold part of the monsoon flow and release it later for irrigation, drinking water and ecological needs. Wetlands known locally as beels should be treated as essential flood infrastructure rather than vacant land available for construction. Protecting and reconnecting them may provide safer and less disruptive storage than relying exclusively on concrete barriers.
Large upstream reservoirs can also reduce some flood peaks if they are genuinely designed and operated with a reserved flood cushion. They can generate electricity and supply water during drier months. Hydropower by itself, however, is not flood control. A reservoir kept nearly full to maximize electricity generation may have little capacity remaining when extreme rain arrives. Emergency releases can then intensify downstream danger. Any multi purpose project must have transparent operating rules, real time forecasting and public coordination among Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, central authorities and downstream communities.
Large dams in the eastern Himalayan region also require serious environmental, seismic and social assessment. They can displace communities, disrupt fisheries, trap sediment and alter natural flows. The choice is therefore not between building every dam and rejecting all storage. India must identify locations where measurable flood moderation, irrigation and energy benefits justify the costs, while guaranteeing independent safety review and enforceable release protocols.
Climate change makes the need for permanent planning more urgent. A study in Nature Communications reconstructed seven centuries of Brahmaputra discharge and concluded that modern instrumental records may underestimate the recurrence of high flow conditions. The researchers also noted that stronger monsoon flows and warming related melt could increase future flood hazard. At the same time, they found that effective warnings with several days of lead time had already helped villages reduce losses. Read the Brahmaputra flood study.
Assam therefore needs a single basin strategy with measurable deadlines. It should map areas that must remain available to the river, prohibit new unsafe construction, offer fair relocation and secure land rights for families already exposed, restore wetlands and drainage channels, strengthen and inspect essential embankments before every monsoon, and build elevated shelters, schools, health centres, roads, power systems and drinking water facilities in communities that cannot be relocated.
The state also needs permanent maintenance funding rather than a rush of contracts after breaches occur. Every major project should publish its design standard, completion status, inspection results and protected population. River gauges, rainfall radar, satellite mapping and upstream data should feed one public warning system. Farmers need flood resistant storage, crop insurance, raised livestock shelters and rapid compensation so that one monsoon does not erase years of income.
Celebrity campaigns can deliver immediate food, medicine and attention when families are suffering. They cannot replace public infrastructure or basin planning. Assam’s citizens should not have to depend on donations every year while committees repeatedly recommend the same long term measures. The government’s responsibility is not to promise that the Brahmaputra will never flood. It is to ensure that a predictable natural event no longer produces a predictable humanitarian disaster.
Canals, reservoirs, irrigation systems and hydroelectric projects can all contribute, but only as parts of an integrated plan that respects sediment, ecology, land and downstream safety. The real failure has been the absence of sustained execution across the whole river basin. Relief must continue today, but before the next monsoon arrives, Assam and the central government must be able to show what permanent protection has actually changed.
With files from News18 and NDTV Profit. Additional reporting and data from the Assam State Disaster Management Authority, the Assam Water Resources Department, the Comptroller and Auditor General of India, the World Bank, NASA and published river research.
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