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Rivers and drainage system of Madhya Pradesh

There are ten river basins in Madhya Pradesh as ten major rivers originate from the State. As Madhya Pradesh is located in the center of India, most of the rivers are interstate rivers. The rivers namely, Chambal, Sindh, Betwa, Ken flow northward and meet with Yamuna whereas the river Sone falls directly into Ganges. Narmada, Tapi and Mahi rivers flow westward and meet Arabian Sea whereas Wainganga and Pench rivers meet Godavari in the south. Annual run off from these rivers within the state is estimated 81719 hm, out of which about 49743 hm can be harnessed for irrigation purpose. 

The State can be divided onto six major river basins, the details of which are as follows:

• Ganges basin: River Ganges originates from the hills of Himalayas at Gangotri and meets Bay of Bengal. The basin extends into 11 states viz. Uttrakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Delhi, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and West Bengal. In Madhya Pradesh, the basin extends up to the districts of Mandsaur, Ujjain, Shajapur, Rajgarh, Neemuch, Vidisha, Guna, Shivpuri, Datia, Gwalior, Morena, Sheopur, Bhind, Tikamgarh, Chhattarpur, Panna, Satna, Rewa, Ashoknagar, Shahdol, Sidhi, and Partly in the district of Annuppur, Umaria, Katni, Jabalpur. Mandla, Dindori, Dhar, Ratlam, Indore, Dewas, Sehore, Raisen, Sagar, Bhopal, and Damoh. The Ganges basin can be further sub-divided into three sub-basins viz. Yamuna, Tons and Sone, details of which are discussed below:
• Chambal basin: Chambal River originates from Indore District and meets river Yamuna near Bhind. Total catchments area of Chambal in Madhya Pradesh is 59940 km². Total length of the river 938 km, out of which initial length of 320 km lies in Madhya Pradesh, 226 km in Rajasthan, 216 km makes the boundary between Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, 112 km makes the boundary between Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh and 64 km in Uttar Pradesh before confluence with Yamuna river. Kali Sindh, Parvati, Kuno, Newaj and Shipra are the main tributaries of the river Chambal.
• Kunwari sindh sub-sub basin: Sindh River originates in Vidisha District. Total catchments area of the river in Madhya Pradesh is 26699 km² and total length is 470 km. A length of 461 km of the river falls in Madhya Pradesh and 9 km in Uttar Pradesh. Major tributaries of Sindh are Mahuar, Parbati, Pahuj, and Kunwari.
• Jamni sub-sub basin: Jamni River originates in Sagar District. Total catchment area in Madhya Pradesh is 1235 km² and total length is 201 km. In Madhya Pradesh the river flows for 29 km, for 85 km river makes boundary between Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh and last 87 km flows in Uttar Pradesh.
• Betwa sub-sub basin: Betwa River originates near Bhopal and meets Yamuna near Hamirpur. Total basin area in Madhya Pradesh is 19365 km². Total length of river is 575 km, out of which 216 km lies in Madhya Pradesh, 98 km common boundary between the two states and 261 km in Uttar Pradesh. The major tributaries are Kaliasote, Halali, Bah, Sagar, Budhna, Jamni, and Bina.
• Dhasan sub-sub basin: This Dhasan River originates in Raisen District of Madhya Pradesh. Total basin area in Madhya Pradesh is 8291 km². Total length of the river is 365 km, out of which 240 km lies in Madhya Pradesh, 54 km common boundary between Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh and 71 km in Uttar Pradesh.
• Ken sub-sub basin: Ken River originates in Jabalpur District. Total basin area in Madhya Pradesh is 24785 km². Total length of river is 427 km, out of which 292 in Madhya Pradesh, 84 km in Uttar Pradesh and 51 km makes the common Boundary between the two states.
• Paisuni and Baidhan sub sub basin: Total basin area of river Paisuni in Madhya Pradesh is 416 km² and of Baidhan river is 1504 km² in Madhya Pradesh. These two rivers originate in Satna District and Panna District and meet river Yamuna below Banda District.
• Tons sub basin: Tons River originates in Satna District. Total basin area in Madhya Pradesh is 11974 km². The river meets Ganges after flowing 246 km in Madhya Pradesh, 7 km making boundary between Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh and finally 67 km in Uttar Pradesh. Total land put to use for agriculture purpose in Tons basin is 8460 km² in the State for which 2244 hm of water is available for its use against total available water at 75% dependability is 2244 hm.
• Sone sub basin: Total basin area of this river in Madhya Pradesh is 28880 km². Total length of river is 784 km. In Madhya Pradesh, the river flows for 470 km. The river meets Ganges in Bihar state near Patna. The major tributaries of river Sone are Johilla, Gopad, Rehar, Kanhar, and Banas.
• Narmada basin: Narmada River originates from Amarkantak and flows from east to west and joins Arabian Sea. Total drainage area of the river is 98796 km², out of which 85149 km² lies in Madhya Pradesh after formation of Chhattisgarh, which has 710 km². Total length or river is 1312 km and in Madhya Pradesh the river flows for a length of 1077 km. Major tributaries of the river Narmada are Banjar, Heran, Kolar, Sukta, Tawa, Tendoni, Beda, Sher, Shakkar, Mān, Jobat and Goi, rivers.
• Godavari basin: In Madhya Pradesh, only the river Wainganga, Wardha and Pench originate in Seoni District and Chhindwara District respectively. Total drainage area of these rivers on Madhya Pradesh is 23388 km².
• Tapti basin River: Tapti originates from Multai in Betul District. This river also flows form east to west. Total basin area of Tapi is 65145 km². Out of which Madhya Pradesh has 9800 km². Total length of the river is 724 km. In Madhya Pradesh the length of river is 332 km. Total agriculture land available in the state is 6330 km². Water available at 75% dependability in the state is 2401 hm.
• Mahi basin: River Mahi originates in Dhar District and joins Gulf of Khambat. Total drainage area of this basin is 34842 km² out of which only 6700 km² lies in Madhya Pradesh. Total length of the river is 583 km of which 158 km traverses in Madhya Pradesh. Anas is the major tributary of Mahi in the State. Total agriculture land available in the basin in the state is 3450 km², total water availability at 75% dependability is 1952 hm.
• Mahanadi basin: After the formation of Chhattisgarh State, the major portion of Mahanadi basin now lies in Chhattisgarh. Presently, only 154 km² basin area of Hasdeo River in Anuppur District lies in Madhya Pradesh.