Question

The kosi river is known as the sorrow of bihar. Give reason

Answer 1

The river Kosi also called as Koshi is called sorrow of Bihar. The Koshi stretches its length around 720 km long and drains an area of about 74,500 km2 in Tibet, Nepal and Bihar. The river gained its name as the sorrow of Bihar due to the annual floods that affect the state most of the times during the rainy season. The flood affects the agricultural land and destroying the rural economy. About 21,000 km² area gets affected by floods caused by this river.

Reasons for calling Koshi river as Sorrow of Bihar

• The Koshi has an average water flow discharge of about 2,166 cubic metres per second or 76,500 cu ft/s
• During floods, the flow increases as much as around 18 times the average.
• The highest recorded flood was 24,200 m³/s or 850,000 cu ft/s on 24 August 1954.
• The Koshi Barrage is designed for a peak flood of 27,014 m3/s or 954,000 cu ft/s.
• The Koshi’s alluvial fan has fertile soil and abundant groundwater in a part of the world where agricultural land is in great demand.
• The Koshi’s alluvial basin fertile soil and abundant groundwater where agricultural land is in great demand and floods destroy all these alluvial basins.