The NW-1 passes through West Bengal, Jharkhand, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh and serves major cities and their industrial hinterlands like; It was declared as a waterway in October 1986.

Land use within the influential area of NW-1[4] On 12 August 2016 Nitin Gadkari, the Union Minister for Shipping, Road Transport and Highways laid the foundation stone of the waterway terminal at Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh.

[5] He flagged off the trial run of two vessels which carried newly manufactured cars of Maruti Suzuki from Varanasi to Haldia, West Bengal.

One of the major changes to the development of NW-1 is braiding and meandering characteristics of river Ganga and the large fluctuation of the water volume during the summer and monsoon months.

The National Waterway 1 was landed in a controversy and protests after Nitin Gadkari, the Union Minister of Shipping in July, 2014 announced that the government will construct barrages every 100 km (62 mi) on river Ganga and will undertake dredging activities in identified stretch to provide a width of 45 m (148 ft) and a depth of 3 m (9.8 ft) to enable transport of passengers and goods between Varanasi and Hooghly on river Ganga in the first stage of its development.

The adverse impact on river bank communities, the unmitigated displacement of people due to erosion at Farakka, a cost-benefit analysis for all stakeholders involved and whether taxation of the waterway will render it unviable.

[16] Environmentalist Debadityo Sinha claimed that World Bank has possibly scrapped the plan for construction of barrages for the National Waterway-1 after public opposition from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.

The author also alleged that the Ministry of Environment, Government of India has made an amendment in law in January, 2016 in which dredging activities for maintenance is exempted from the requirement of Environmental Clearance.