2019 Monsoon: Instances when Dam Safety Came into Question

October 31, 2019 SANDRPLeave a comment

The South West Monsoon in 2019 in India brought the highest rainfall of last 25 years and issues related to heavy rainfall continue even to the end of October 2019. Here we have listed major instances during the monsoon when there were question marks over safety of dams either due to structural safety or due to wrong operations of the dams. Some issues of breaches of embankments/ canals are also included here. As we can see, the instances come from across the country, including North East, North, West, Centre, South.

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CWC - Central Water Commission

Rivers That Reached New Highest Flood Level during Monsoon 2019

October 29, 2019October 13, 2021 SANDRPLeave a comment

In the monsoon season of 2019 Indian rivers have crossed Highest Flood Level (HFL) at around 37 Level Forecasting and Level Monitoring sites across the country. This account attempts basin wise details and description of HFL breached by the rivers.

Brahmaputra Basin (Assam)

In Brahmaputra basin 2 sites, 1 Aie NH Xing Level Monitoring site on River Aie in Barpeta district of Assam and Dhubri (Level Forecast) site on River Brahmaputra in Dhubri district of Assam narrowly crossed the HFL in July 2019.

Also River Barak at ANIPUR site in Karimganj district on May 24 and River Brahmaputra at Goalpara site in Goalpara district rose close to the HFL level on July 17, 2019. As per CWC (Central Water Commission) FF Website, Goalpara site has not crossed HFL since 1954.

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DRP News Bulletin

DRP News Bulletin 28 Oct 2019: Growing opposition to Large Hydro Projects

October 28, 2019 SANDRPLeave a comment

As can be seen from the news reports from Jammu & Kashmir, Assam, Arunchal Pradesh, Karnataka, among others, the opposition to Large Hydro Projects and Big Dam is growing all over India. These projects are neither economically viable, nor Socially-environmentally sustainable. There are much better options exist and hope the governments takes informed, democratic decisions. Going by the agenda and minutes of the recent Expert Appraisal Committee on River Valley Projects and other decisions, this hope seems far fetched at the moment.

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Assam · brahmaputra · Floods

The floods of Jiadhal River in Assam

October 26, 2019October 26, 2019 SANDRPLeave a comment

Guest blog by Sazzad Hussain

Late Kartik Pegu, grandfather of Bipin Pegu of Jiadhal Chariali village under Dhemaji Revenue Circle of Dhemaji district in northeast Assam prepared his own burial site during early 1970s on the bank of Jiadhal River. The site, a paddy field, has been owned by the Patir family of the village near the railway bridge over the river. Kartik Pegu was buried there when he died in 1976 and a tombstone was built in his memory. After that in 1985 Bilapson Pegu, Bipin’s father, too was buried on the same site and another tombstone was placed in his memory close to that of Kartik Pegu. Now Bipin Pegu (47), a college graduate and a local peasant with three children wishes him to be buried on the same plot of land when he dies. But on the evening of 16 September, 2019, his wishes for final rest close to his near and dear ones were shattered when Jiadhal River suddenly surged with overflowing water submerging the tombstones of Bipin’s immediate ancestors. He has never seen them being under water so far. Continue reading “The floods of Jiadhal River in Assam” →

DRP News Bulletin

DRP NB 21 Oct. 2019: Opposition to restarting work on Lower Subansiri HEP without addressing Assam people’s concerns

October 21, 2019 SANDRPLeave a comment

With work on NHPC Ltd’s 2,000-MW Lower Subansiri hydro power project restarting after a wait of almost eight years, anti-dam organisations led by the All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) and Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti (KMSS) vowed to launch an intense resistance movement to stop further construction of the project. AASU, in a statement, alleged that work on the Lower Subansiri project at Gerukamukh along the Assam-Arunachal Pradesh border has been started ‘treacherously’, risking the lives and property of people living in the downstream area. AASU said a scientific study on the possible impact of the dam in its downstream areas besides a cumulative impact study must be completed before expediting work at the dam site.

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CWC - Central Water Commission

South India Overview of CWC Flood Forecasting Sites 2019

October 18, 2019December 2, 2019 SANDRPLeave a comment

Flood Forecasting (FF) is one of the important activities of Central Water Commission (CWC), which is undergoing expansion and improvement, but there is still a huge scope for improvement. In order to better understand the CWC’s flood monitoring and forecasting work, in this article, we have given an overview of CWC’s flood forecasting and monitoring sites in South India, the last region to be covered for 2019 flood season. It includes state wise list of CWC’s Level Forecast, Inflow Forecast and level monitoring sites in South Indian states of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry (no FF sites) and Kerala. Similar report has been published for North India[i] and North East India[ii], East India[iii] and West India[iv]. Continue reading “South India Overview of CWC Flood Forecasting Sites 2019” →

Monsoon · Rainfall · River Basin

River Wise Rainfall in Monsoon 2019

October 15, 2019October 15, 2019 SANDRPLeave a comment

Indian media never seems to report this, but IMD (India Meteorological Department) also provides river basin wise rainfall figures for South West Monsoon, also for other seasons. As in the previous years, here is an overview of the river basin wise rainfall during just concluded SW Monsoon 2019 (June-Sept 2019, though the monsoon started withdrawing only on Oct 9 and has not yet fully withdrawn from across India as I write this on Oct 15 2019), like the way we have been doing for the last three years[i]. Our earlier monsoon 2019 articles provided monsoon over view [ii], state wise rainfall figures [iii] and Marathwada specific situation [iv].

It’s not clear why Indian media does not report river basin wise rainfall figures, since that is arguably, the most appropriate way to look at the rainfall figures, since river basins are the hydrological units and the run off from the rainfall ends up in the rivers, and creates floods many times, as happened during 2019 monsoon. There could be issues of quality of the river basin wise rainfall figures, but that is true for all IMD’s rainfall figures at some level or other. Continue reading “River Wise Rainfall in Monsoon 2019” →

DRP News Bulletin

DRP News Bulletin 14 Oct 2019: Whither Environmental Jurisprudence in India?

October 14, 2019October 14, 2019 SANDRPLeave a comment

India’s environmental Legal system is in deep trouble. Ritwick Dutta shows this through two brilliant articles, but this is also apparent from the failure of pollution control mechanism and people, rivers and environment continues to suffer as is apparent from the poisonous Hindon river basin water that people of over a hundred villages are forced to drink while the cases have been going on in National Green Tribunal. The Yettinahole verdict of the Supreme Court now and NGT earlier seem to have completely ignored all the illegalities and falsehoods involved in the case. The verdict thus also ignored the severe vulnerabilities of the Western Ghats that is getting worse with such mindless developmental interventions. And the government seems happy to destroy the independence status of the NGT through problematic appointments, as Ritwick Dutta shows through another article. What is the hope when the judiciary itself is blind to such glaring disasters?

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CWC - Central Water Commission

WEST INDIA: Overview of CWC Flood Forecasting Sites 2019

October 13, 2019November 5, 2019 SANDRPLeave a comment

Central Water Commission (CWC) is the only agency doing flood forecasting in India. This article attempts to present an overview of CWC’s flood forecasting and monitoring sites in West India. It includes state wise list of CWC’s Level Forecasting, Inflow Forecasting and level monitoring sites in 5 States in West India: Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Goa. Similar report has been published for North India [i] and North East India [ii] and East India [iii]. A similar effort was made last year which can be seen here: Overview of CWC Flood Forecasting Sites 2018: WEST INDIA.

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Climate Change · Dams · Floods · Krishna River · Monsoon

Sangli and Narsoba Wadi: Painted Red with Record Flood levels in 2019 monsoon

October 10, 2019October 10, 2019 SANDRPLeave a comment

Sangli, on the banks of river Krishna in Western Maharashtra faced a historic flood in Aug 2019. Nearly One Lakh people were displaced and over 30 lost their lives in this district alone. While we covered the impact of floods on the agricultural and rural fabric of Sangli in the earlier photoblogs, Sangli city with a population of more than 22 Lakhs, too suffered huge losses.

Sangli-Miraj-Kupwad Municipal Corporation is on the banks of Krishna-Warna confluence in Western Maharashtra. Both rivers reached historic High Flood Levels in the 2019 floods. Warna, in Samdoli Village, Sangli District recorded an HFL of 546.9 Meters on 09 Aug 2019, breaking all previous records. Irwin Bridge, a historic bridge built in 1929 in Sangli city, recorded a river stage that the bridge had never experienced. Sangli and the nearby region are is not new to floods and has witnessed devastating floods in 1853, 1856, 1914, 2005, 2006 and latest 2019.

Same is the story downstream. Especially in the pilgrimage center of Narsoba Wadi near Kurundwad town of Kolhapur District. Situated at the confluence of Krishna and Panchaganga, floods are not new to Narsoba Wadi. In fact, there are elaborate flood rituals, in which the deity is moved to upper precincts after each flood event. But here too, 2019 floods broke all previous records, including the 1914 HFL.

Photos, videos and brief interviews by Abhay Kanvinde (taken in September 2019), show us the extent that Krishna waters had reached and all that they had swallowed in the first two weeks of August 2019.

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