2024 Dam Safety

January 26, 2025January 26, 2025 SANDRPLeave a comment

(Feature Image: Coimbatore Corporation Commissioner M. Sivaguru Prabakaran inspecting the Siruvani dam on January 8, 2025. Photo, Text Source: The Hindu)

This annual overview complies the remaining relevant reports from 2024 concerning safety of dam structures in India. As per a report, the incident of damage to Tungabhadra dam gate in August 2024, raised alarm for other aging dams in Karnataka. In fact, the Bhadra dam also witnessed jamming of a gate due to rust in June 2024. Similarly, the Kabini reservoir has been dealing with a leakage for the past three years. The report further highlights negligence in dams’ monitoring and inadequate expertise and corruption often impacting the quality of maintenance works of dams in the state. As per another report taking sou moto action, the Karnataka High Court in January 2024, banned mining and blasting activities within a 20 km radius of the Krishna Raja Sagara dam in the state.

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Dams

DRP 200125: Whither Env Clearance Rejection rate from Expert Appraisal Committee or MoEF?

January 20, 2025February 28, 2026 SANDRPLeave a comment

A detailed review of functioning of Union Ministry of Environment and Forests’ (MoEF) Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC) on River Valley Projects (RVP) for 2024 by SANDRP shows that the committee or for that matter MoEF has almost non-existent rejection rate. Even when a project is not cleared, when it applies again, it gets clearance, whether the application if for stage I (Terms of Reference) or Stage II (Environment Clearance- EC) clearance. Even in some cases like Pump Storage Projects (PSP) in Western Ghats or the Hydropower projects in disaster prone Himalayas, including the disaster-stricken projects like the 1200 MW Teesta III projects in Sikkim, the scrutiny including field visits by the EAC Sub committees is minimal, not worthy calling even scrutiny.

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Dams

EAC & FAC Decisions on Dams, Hydro, Irrigation Projects in 2024

January 17, 2025January 18, 2025 SANDRPLeave a comment

This annual overview tracks the minutes of meetings held by Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC) for River Valley and Hydropower Projects between 20 December 2023 and 31 December 2024 for consideration of Dams, Hydroelectric Power (HEP), Pumped Storage Hydro Projects (PSP) and Irrigation related proposals seeking Terms of Reference (TOR) and Environment Clearance (EC) approvals. The analysis also covers various water projects related proposals considered by the Forest Appraisal Committee (FAC) between 15 December 2023 and 26 December 2024 for Forest Clearances (FC).

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Dam Safety

2024: Siltation, Safety & Sustainability of Hydro, Dams in India

January 15, 2025January 18, 2025 SANDRPLeave a comment

(Feature Image: Pune: Pavana, Mulshi, Panshet, and Khadakwasla Dams Release Water Due to Heavy Rain in Catchment Areas. Source: Pune Now News, Sept 2024)

This annual overview focusses on how siltation, muck dumping related issues are affecting the safety and sustainability of Hydropower projects and dams in India. Some of the key dams facing crisis in this regard include Bhakra, Ratle, Gangasagar, Hathnur among others. Some of the states where this issue is acute include HP, J&K, Maharashtra, Telangana, Kerala, Karnataka & Punjab.

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DRP News Bulletin

DRP 130125: Will Judiciary take these matters to logical conclusion?

January 13, 2025February 28, 2026 SANDRPLeave a comment

There are at least four cases in this past week where the judiciary has used strong words or taken up crucial issues in water, dams, hydropower projects, wetlands and riverbed mining related issues. In the case related to the safety of Mullaperiyar dam on Kerala-TN border, the Supreme Court has prodded the Centre to wake up from the slumber to ensure that National Dam Safety Authority quickly forms a panel to examine the project. This case has wide ranging repercussions not only about this project, but also functioning of NDSA and other bodies under the Dam Safety Act 2021. Indeed, there is huge question mark as to what extent NDSA and DSA has made our dams any safer.

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Dams · Highest Flood Level

Rivers Flowing in Extreme Flood Situation during Northeast Monsoon 2024

January 12, 2025 SANDRPLeave a comment

In addition to rivers flowing in extreme flood situations at 64 flooding monitoring stations during Southwest Monsoon 2024, we have found that rivers have crossed highest flood level (HFL) at four stations during just concluded Northeast Monsoon season. Of these four stations, three are in Tamil Nadu state and one is in Union Territory of Puducherry.

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Dam Safety

2024: Mining Dam Breach Flood Incidents in India

January 11, 2025January 11, 2025 SANDRPLeave a comment

(Feature Image: -Vedanta’s red mud pond collapse on Sept. 15, 2024 inundates farmlands in Kalahandi. Photo: OTV)

Besides the dam induced flood events, the available media reports show two incidents of breach in industrial dams causing substantial flood damages to local people in India during 2024. The first incident took place in NMDC’s iron ore mine in Kirandul area of Dantewada district in Chhattisgarh in July 2024 in which collapse of an iron ore waste ‘check dam’ resulted in extensive flood damages in downstream areas.

The second such incident happened in September 2024 when aluminium mine waste dyke breached in Vedanta Alumina Lanjigarh facility in Kalahandi district of Odisha flooding scores of farmlands with toxic mud. Interestingly both the NMDC and Vedanta have blamed extreme rains reason behind the breach in their mine waste collection facilities while the reports indicate negligence in maintenance of these dams.

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Dam Safety · Hydro Disaster

2024: Climate Change, GLOF impact on Safety of Hydro, Dams in India

January 6, 2025January 11, 2025 SANDRPLeave a comment

(Powerhouse of a hydro project ravaged by cloudburst induced flashflood in Sutlej basin Shimla, Himachal Pradesh in Aug 2024. Image Source: Social Media)

This 2024 annual overview focusses on important reports highlighting the safety and sustainability issues of the hydro and dam projects in India in 2024 in the context of Climate Change, including Glacier melt and GLOFs. The compilation shows that the climate change driven extreme weather events have become significant threat for the structural safety of these projects.

This is even more relevant in inherently vulnerable areas like the Himalayas and Western Ghats from the point of view of seismic activity, young erosion prone mountain, flash floods, avalanches and landslides. Here the impact of climate change effects like more intensified hydrological cycles, cloud bursts, reduction in snow fall, glacier melts and GLOF (Glacier Lake Outburst Flood) increase the vulnerability including landslide dams and avalanche dams.

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DRP News Bulletin

DRP 060125: Concerns about & Contradictions in CGWB’s Reports

January 6, 2025February 28, 2026 SANDRPLeave a comment

The Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) released two important reports last week. While the Annual Ground Water Quality Report 2024 reveals rise in nitrate fluoride, arsenic and uranium contimination of groundwater resource in India, the Dynamic Groundwater Resource Assessment Report 2024 claims substantial rise in annual groundwater recharge and decline in extraction of the resource.

As per the first report, the number of districts affected by high nitrate levels in groundwater has gone up to 440 (near 56% of all 779 districts in country) from 359 found in 2017 assessment which means in 7 years 81 more districts have been found having excessive nitrate levels in groundwater. This should concern us from a number of points of view.

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Dam Safety

2024: Has NDSA made our dams any safer?

January 5, 2025January 18, 2025 SANDRP1 Comment

(Feature Image: Srisailam dam in Telangana. Source: Telangana Today)

This annual overview focusses on the functioning of National Dam Safety Authority (NDSA) and related institutions in 2024 to understand if the functioning of these institutions have made Indian Dams any safer? Here functioning of Central Water Commission (CWC) is also important as CWC people head all the dam safety panels. The dam safety related institutions were formed following the passage of Dam Safety Act 2021 and hence there were promises and hopes that these institutions will make our dams safer.

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