The Kamala River (Hindi and ; romanized: Kamalā nadī) originates in Nepal and flows through the Indian state of Bihar.

Course

The Kamala originates from the Churia Range near Maithan which is near Sindhuli Gadhi in Sindhuli District of Nepal at an elevation of 1200 m. It flows in a southerly direction crossing the Kamala Khoj area and, after passing through a gorge above Chauphat, flows into the Terai area of Nepal at Chisapani. The Kamala forms the border between Siraha and Dhanusa districts in the Terai. During the monsoon, the river swells up and causes devastating riverbank erosion. The Tao and Baijnath Khola rivers merge with the Kamala at Maini It enters Indian territory in Madhubani district in Bihar, 3.5 km upstream of Jainagar. A barrage known as Kamala barrage has been constructed by the State Government near Jainagar. It joins the river Kareh (Bagmati) at Badlaghat in Khagaria district and the combined stream flows into the Koshi nearby. While one of its branches leads to the Bagmati another leads to the Kosi. In the lower reaches it follows the course of the Balan and is therefore also known as Kamala-Balan.

Tributaries

The main tributaries of the Kamala River are the Tao, Baijnath Khola, Mainawati, Dhauri, Soni, Balan, Trisula, and Chadaha.

River and basin data

The total length of the Kamala is 328 km of which 208 km is in Nepal and the remaining 120 km is in India. The river drains a total catchment area of 7232 km2 out of which 4488 km2 lies in Bihar in India and the rest 2744 km2 in Nepal. Average annual rainfall is 1018 mm. Cropped area in Bihar is 2744 km2. Population of the Kamala basin in Bihar is 3.9 million.

Floods

The extent of flood impact can be gauged from the fact that about one million people were affected by floods in the Kamala and other rivers in the region in 2003. While 16.5 per cent of the total flood affected area in India is in Bihar, 57 per cent of India's flood affected population live in Bihar, out of which 76 per cent are in northern Bihar. About 68800 km2 out of total area of 94160 km2 or about 73.06 percent of the total area of Bihar is flood affected. Over 70 per cent of the population of North Bihar lives under recurring threat of floods. The plains of Bihar, adjoining Nepal, are drained by a number of rivers that have their catchments in the steep and geologically nascent Himalayas. The Kosi, the Gandak, the Burhi Gandak, the Bagmati, the Kamala Balan and the Adhwara group of rivers originate in Nepal, carry high discharge and very high sediment load and drop it down in the plains of Bihar. Bihar witnessed high magnitudes of flood in 1978, 1987, 1998, 2004 and 2007. The flood of 2004 demonstrated the severity of flood problem when a vast area of 23490 km2 was badly affected by the floods of Bagmati, Kamala and the Adhwara groups of rivers causing loss of about 800 human lives. Three dams have been proposed as solutions to north Bihar's flood problems. Among the three one is across the Kamala at Chisapani, but a report claims that there is no flood cushion in the proposed Chisapani reservoir. .External link: Glimpses of the flood in Northern Bihar in 2007 (Source: Water Resource Department, Govt. of Bihar)

Kamala Multipurpose Project

The Kamala Multipurpose Project would involve the construction of storage dam on the Kamala River in the districts of Dhanusa and Siraha in Nepal. The project would provide year-round irrigation facilities and generate hydropower with an installed capacity of 30 MW. This scheme forms part of the Sunkosi Storage-cum-Diversion Scheme which involves diverting water from the Sunkosi River to the Kamala River to augment lean season flow. However, there is a cause for worry. North Bihar is an earthquake prone area. In 1998, earthquake zone was Darbhanga that is only 60 km from the borders of Nepal where big dams are being proposed. In 1988, Kamala River embankment in Madhubani district breached due to earthquake cracks.