160 HAPPY INDIA 



There is another way in which we can measure 

 the possibilities as regards water-power. Sir W. W. 

 Hunter, in his great work on India, gives the volume 

 of water in three great rivers, the Indus and its tribu- 

 taries in the Punjab, the Brahmaputra and the 

 Ganges. The lowest summer fall of the Indus and 

 tributaries is 41,000 cubic feet per second. The lowest 

 water-fall in the Brahmaputra he puts at 146,000 cubic 

 feet per second. Ihe Ganges, the lowest volume, he 

 puts at 6,000 cubic feet per second. Taking those 

 cubic feet, and assuming a fall of 1,000 feet, we get 

 22,500,000 horse-power. But, of course, when the 

 time comes for utilising the power in those rivers, 

 great reservoirs will be built in the mountains, so 

 that the power utilised would not be the lowest 

 summer fall, but might, if required, be five times 

 that amount. Professor Shiv Narayan has published 

 this year (1922) a most instructive book entitled 

 Hydro-Electric Installations of India. This Professor 

 is a man with a great many scientific attainments. 

 He is Professor at the College of Engineering, Poona, 

 in India, and has had considerable experience in 

 America. On page 2 of that book Professor Shiv 

 Narayan says : " The rainfall and snowfall over 

 India could provide potential energy equivalent to 

 some thousand million kilowatts." That is equiva- 

 lent to 1,300,000,000 horse-power. But he does not 

 think it theoretically possible to utilise more than 

 100,000,000 kilowatts, and he doubts if the practical 

 difficulties which exist will not prevent even a tenth 

 part of that from being utilised. But it is highly 



