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Bhutan River Systems
Bhutan has four major river systems: the Drangme Chhu;
the Puna
Tsang Chhu, also called the Sankosh; the Wang Chhu; and
the Amo
Chhu. Each flows swiftly out of the Himalayas, southerly
through
the Duars to join the Brahmaputra River in India, and
thence
through Bangladesh where the Brahmaputra (or Jamuna in
Bangladesh)
joins the mighty Ganges (or Padma in Bangladesh) to flow
into the
Bay of Bengal. The largest river system, the Drangme Chhu,
flows
southwesterly from India's state of Arunachal Pradesh and
has three
major branches: the Drangme Chhu, Mangde Chhu, and
Bumthang Chhu.
These branches form the Drangme Chhu basin, which spreads
over most
of eastern Bhutan and drains the Tongsa and Bumthang
valleys. In
the Duars, where eight tributaries join it, the Drangme
Chhu is
called the Manas Chhu. The 320-kilometer-long Puna Tsang
Chhu rises
in northwestern Bhutan as the Mo Chhu and Pho Chhu, which
are fed
by the snows from the Great Himalayan Range. They flow
southerly to
Punakha, where they join to form the Puna Tsang Chhu,
which flows
southerly into India's state of West Bengal. The
tributaries of the
370-kilometer-long Wang Chhu rise in Tibet. The Wang Chhu
itself
flows southeasterly through west-central Bhutan, drains
the Ha,
Paro, and Thimphu valleys, and continues into the Duars,
where it
enters West Bengal as the Raigye Chhu. The smallest river
system,
the Torsa Chhu, known as the Amo Chhu in its northern
reaches, also
flows out of Tibet into the Chumbi Valley and swiftly
through
western Bhutan before broadening near Phuntsholing and
then flowing
into India.
Data as of September 1991
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