Chenab River


The Chenab River is a major river that flows in India and Pakistan, and is one of the 5 major rivers of the Punjab region. It rises in the upper Himalayas in the Lahaul and Spiti district of Himachal Pradesh state, India, and flows through the Jammu region of Jammu and Kashmir into the plains of Punjab, Pakistan, before flowing into the Indus River near the city of Uch Sharif. The waters of the Chenab were allocated to Pakistan under the terms of the Indus Waters Treaty.
The river is formed by the confluence of two rivers, Chandra and Bhaga, at Tandi, 8 km southwest of Keylong, in the Lahaul and Spiti district in the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. The Bhaga river originates from Surya taal lake, which is situated a few kilometers west of the Bara-lacha la pass in Himachal Pradesh. The Chandra river originates from glaciers east of the same pass. This pass also acts as a water-divide between these two rivers. The Chandra river transverses before the confluence. The Bhaga river transverses through narrow gorges a distance of before the confluence at Tandi.

Name

The Chenab river was called ' in the Rigveda. The name meant that it was seen to have dark-coloured waters. The term Krishana is also found in the Atharvaveda. A later form of Askikni was Iskamati and the Greek form was Ἀκεσίνης - Akesínes; Latinized to Acesines.
In the Mahabharata, the common name of the river was Chandrabhaga' because the river is formed from the confluence of the Chandra and the Bhaga rivers. This name was also known to the Ancient Greeks, who Hellenised it in various forms such as Sandrophagos, Sandabaga and Cantabra''.
The simplification of Chandrabhaga to 'Chenab', with evident Persianate influence, probably occurred in early medieval times and is witnessed in Alberuni.

History

The river was known to Indians in the Vedic period In 325 BC, Alexander the Great allegedly founded the town of Alexandria on the Indus at the confluence of the Indus and the combined stream of Punjab rivers.

Dams

The river has rich power generation potential in India.
, World's highest rail bridge
All of these are "run-of-the-river" projects as per the Indus Water Treaty of 1960. The Treaty allocates the Chenab River to Pakistan for exploitation. India can use its water for domestic and agricultural uses or for "non-consumptive" uses such as hydro power. India is entitled to store up to of water in its projects. The three projects completed as of 2011 have a combined storage capacity of.
Pakistan has four headworks on the Chenab: