DRP 210725: Moving Joshimath Landslide a threat to Tapovan Vishnugad HEP in UKD?

July 21, 2025July 21, 2025 SANDRP1 Comment

(Feature Image: Hydropower Tunnel project shown in the Joshimath area along with the Watershed Boundary. This figure is generated using ArcGIS software-version 10.3.1 and CorelDraw Graphics Suite 2019 https://www.coreldraw.com/. Source: Analyzing Joshimath’s sinking: causes, consequences, and future prospects with remote sensing techniques. May 2024)

A paper in scientific journal co-authored by Internationally renowned landslide expert Dave Petley (published on June 16 2025 at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enggeo.2025.108201) warns that the Joshimath landslide is moving and can threaten the under construction Tapovan Vishnugad hydropower project in Chamoli district in Uttarkhand. The paper says: “The 2023 rapid deformation at Joshimath was preceded by slow movement years ahead. Deforestation in the Joshimath region might have intensified the slope instability. Additional landslide zones were detected in Hailang, Kalpeshwar with similar pattern. Slow-moving landslides have high potential to cause often underestimated damages.”

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floodplains · Floods · Yamuna River

Letter: Encroachment of Yamuna floodplain near Wazirabad Barrage

July 19, 2025July 19, 2025 SANDRP1 Comment

To, July 17, 2025

1 Shri Vinai Kumar Saxena

Honorable LG, Delhi Civil Lines,

New Delhi-110054

pstolg.delhi@nic.in

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Infrastructure

NH66 in Kerala: Built Against Water logic, Designed to Collapse?

July 15, 2025July 15, 2025 SANDRP1 Comment

Guest Article: Sridhar Radhakrishnan

The collapse of the NH66 highway in Kerala is not yet another accident. It is the result of designing roads without listening to water, terrain, or people. Built in defiance of Kerala’s monsoon logic, paddy-wetland systems, and ecological memory, the highway blocks natural drainage, floods homes, and divides society. From ignored protests to forgotten flood lessons, its collapse is a story of what happens when asphalt arrogance meets a land shaped by rain.

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Climate Change · Dam Decommissioning · Floods · River Restoration

DRP 140725: Dam decommissioning spreads to China

July 14, 2025 SANDRP2 Comments

(Feature Image: Copco 2 dam removal on the Klamath River, California. Credit: Swiftwater Films, Source: American Rivers)

China decommissions hundreds of dams along Red river China has claimed to have dismantled 300 dams and decommissioned more than 90 percent of small hydropower stations along the Chishui River, also known as the Red River, a key tributary of the upper Yangtze. The move is seen as one of the largest state-led efforts to restore aquatic biodiversity in Asia’s longest river, reversing decades of hydro-infrastructure development that critically endangered native fish species, including the Yangtze sturgeon, the South China Morning Post reported.

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Environmental Flow · floodplains · Floods · River Pollution · Yamuna River

Yamuna Manthan July 2025: Is Delhi Ready for July 2023 like Yamuna Floods?

July 11, 2025 SANDRPLeave a comment

(Feature Image: EOS-RS Flood Proxy Map: New Delhi, Floods, 12 July 2023,v0.4)

July 13 will mark two years since the Yamuna river stretch in national capital witnessed unprecedented flood spell. The river not just submerged every part of existing available floodplain by several feet but also spilled over to reclaim its lost channels. The unusual flood also breached historic 1978 flood level at Delhi railway bridge by a huge margin, setting new benchmark.

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Climate Change · Dams · Floods

Guadalupe River Floods: Understanding the tragedy along ‘The Most Dangerous River valley in the USA’

July 10, 2025July 16, 2025 SANDRPLeave a comment

“This is the most dangerous river valley in the United States, we deal with floods on a regular basis.” – Kerr County judge, Rob Kelly about Guadalupe River[i], 5^th July 2025

“If you live in the Guadalupe River Basin, you also live in one of the three most dangerous regions in the U.S.A. for flash floods!”[ii] – Opening Statement of “Staying safe: A Guide to Flooding in the Guadalupe River Basin[iii]” published by the Guadalupe River basin Authority

Flash Flood Watch Alert from National Weather Service received 3 hrs 21 minutes ahead of the devastating “30 feet high tsunami ball of water[1]”.

“If you do not want to be flooded, do not build or live in a floodplain”– Guadalupe-Blanco River Authority

And yet, several summer camp buildings built on not only floodplains, but on extremely dangerous floodways[iv]. more than 27 children lost to floods.

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CWC - Central Water Commission · Floods · Indus

Himachal Pradesh: Why CWC’s Forecasting is Unavailable Amidst Flood Disaster?

July 9, 2025July 9, 2025 SANDRP1 Comment

(Feature Image: Screenshot of inactive hydrograph for Solang station on Beas river in Mandi district. Source: CWC Flood Forecast website)

Despite disastrous flood events causing significant destruction to human lives and infrastructures for past three years, the state of Himachal Pradesh has not seen much required improvements in flood monitoring and forecast servicesby the Central Water Commission’s (CWC) to help minimize the destruction toll.

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Climate Change · Dams · Hydro Power Projects · Rivers

DRP 070725: Demand for Commission of Inquiry on Hydro Obsession in Himachal

July 7, 2025July 7, 2025 SANDRPLeave a comment

(Feature Image: Flood ravaged Priyadarshini HEP in Manuni khad in Dharamshala, Kangra. Source: Social Media)

Hydropower obsession, Himalayan failure The massive hydropower push, another legacy of post-1990s liberalisation, has amplified vulnerability. Dams have mushroomed across river basins in Kinnaur, Lahaul-Spiti, Chamba, and Kullu — with scant regard for ecological thresholds. Muck from these construction sites is routinely dumped into riverbeds, narrowing channels and raising riverbeds. When the rains arrive, this loose muck turns into a lethal force, taking down everything in its path. The hydropower model — built on the assumption of perpetual revenue — has neither delivered long-term employment nor sustainable energy. Instead, it has left behind ecological scars, displaced communities, and made vast swathes of the state more disaster-prone.

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Rainfall

June 2025: High Rainfall district days in India’s SW Monsoon

July 5, 2025July 5, 2025 SANDRPLeave a comment

An analysis of the daily district wise rainfall data from India Meteorological Department (IMD) for June 2025, the first month of India’s South West Monsoon 2025 shows that there were 415 instances (384 in June 2024 [i], 451 in June 2023 [ii], 462 in June 2022 [iii] and 442 in June 2021) when district rainfall of a day was above 50 mm. The rainfall of India in June 2024 was 147.2 mm [iv], the rainfall in June 2023 was 148.6 mm, the rainfall of India in June 2022 was 152.3 mm [v]. The data and analysis are based on IMD’s daily district wise rainfall bulletins for the 24 hours ending at 0830 am each day.

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Beas · Climate Change · Cloud Burst · Hydro Disaster

July 2025: Flash Flood Destroys Patikari Hydro Project in Himachal

July 3, 2025 SANDRPLeave a comment

(Feature Image: Dam site of Patikari HEP destroyed by the flash flood.)

A ‘cloudburst’ induced deluge on the intervening night of June 30 and July 01, 2025 has totally destroyed the Patikari Hydroelectric Power (HEP) project in Mandi district of Himachal Pradesh. The 16 Mw project was built in Gudah village on Bakhali khad (Kuklah stream) a tributary of Beas River upstream Pandoh dam. The main project structures including the dam site and powerhouse have been washed away in the disaster. The 12 workers of the project managed to escape in the nick of time.

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