Gaula River

The Guala River has its starting point at the Sattal lakes that are seen in the state of Uttarakhand. Sattal stands for Saat Taal, which includes the lakes of Panna, Nal-Damayanti, Purna, Sita, Ram, Laxman and Sukha. These seven lakes form the Saat Taal and this also proves to be the origin point of many rivers of which the Guala is also one of them. The Saat Taal is a point of natural beauty and exuberance with the many water bodies proving to be an important reason for the migratory birds that fly in there. Bird watchers throng the Saat Taal, especially during the peak seasons.

While speaking of the Guala River, we need to mention about the dam that is built across this river. The dam also takes the name of the river and is referred to in common parlance as the Guala dam. This dam is seen on the river at the city of Kathgodam and is one of the iconic structures of this place. Most of the local addresses are based on this landmark in the city.  The dam is a very useful and historic point across the state, because it serves the purpose of watering the city and it is the major water source for the crops in the fields of Bhabhar. Therefore the water that is stored in the dams here is put to good use for the irrigation of the crops in Bhabhar.

Course

The river runs a total length of 500 km after it starts from the Sattal Lake. Some of the cities that are watered by the Gaula River include those of Kathgodam, Haldwani and Shahi. All these cities have benefitted by the flow of the water, and this has raised their economy levels as well. These cities thrive on the river, for the irrigation purposes and for their everyday water needs. The river like smaller rivers that originate in the different points in the Himalayas, this also goes on to feed one of the tributaries of the Ganges.  In the case of the Gaula River it is the river Ramganga. Gaula confluences into the Ram Ganga in a place close to 15 km from the city of Bareilly in the state of Uttar Pradesh.

The current state of the Guala river, though, is not as pleasant as it needs to be. The river seems to have lost its glory and this place is known more for the wrong reasons – like landslides, that have even led to the loss of many lives. The reasons for this state are both natural and manmade. While the natural process of erosion that is related to the climatic changes has eaten away a major portion of the river bed, the illegal cutting of trees and the mining of sand has also disturbed the natural balance. Since the number of trees has reduced drastically, this has led to a much lesser amount of rainfall.  The imbalance caused in the rainfall has resulted in lesser water flow and what remains today is only a reminder of the glory that was once the Guala River.

The point where the river flows over Haldwani also poses another threat for the existence of the river. Though there are strict orders from the Supreme Court to refrain from quarrying, the present situation is not very pleasant. The order of the court has granted permission to only the removal of the silt that forms in the river. However, there is more than meets the eye at the river site. There is a lot of illegal practice that is underway, whereby the sand is quarried away without proper permissions. This leads to loss of the river bed, whereby the river loses its valuable river bed, and this leads to the lesser amounts of water that the river can hold. This fact coupled with the factor of lesser rainfall results in the river losing its potential and endangering its very existence.

Tributaries

As with most of the rivers in Uttarakhand, though there are a lot of smaller streams that originate from the Saatal that serve the purpose of feeding the Guala River, these are not remarkably well known to be termed as the tributary of the river. The river in turn serves as the tributary of Ram Ganga, which is one of the famous tributaries of River Ganga.

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