Rainwater may flow or get collected naturally in a lake. Artificial tanks and reservoirs may be built to store it. Besides rainfall, the other source of fresh water is melting snow. India is lucky to have a number of rivers that have their source in the Himalayas glaciers. The peninsular rivers, however depend upon rainfall which in uneven and erratic.

The Himalayan Rivers have plenty of water throughout the year. The Sutlej, the Ganga and the Brahmaputra are the most important rivers of the northern plains.

The Ganga River is very holy to Hindu’s. They do bath in that river with prayer. The famous Kumbha mela is held here every twelve years. The Ganga River is first place of in India to all over of the rivers, in purity. Many big temples are there on the side of river.

The Sutlej basin lies in the western part of tee northern plain.

The second part the northern plain is the basin of the Ganga. The Ganga basin lies between the Sutlej in the west and the Brahmaputra in the east. The Ganga is a wide and long river. It is also a holy river for the Hindus. The Ganga rises in the Himalayas at the Gangotri and through Haridwar, it enters the northern plains. The main tributaries of the Ganga are the Yamuna, the Gomati, the Ghaghra, the Gandak and the Kosi. The Ganga and Yamuna meet at Allahabad. The meeting place of the two rivers is known as Sangam.

Many rivers join the Ganga as it flows towards west Bengal. The Ganga flows slowly as it reaches west Bengal. The sediment becomes too heavy for the river to carry. So the sediment settles down and small islands are formed. A region having such islands and steams around them is called a delta. The Ganga splits into two branches Hugli and Padma. The Hugli flows through Kolkata. The Padma flows through Bangladesh, where it joins the Brahmaputra before entering the Bay of Bengal. The Ganga basin is called the food bowl of India because the soil is so rich and fertile crops grow easily in this region. The main crops of this region are rice, sugarcane, wheat and jute.