The avoidable flood disaster brought in Gujarat and upstream Madhya Pradesh, starting from the night of Sept 16, 2023 by unaccountable operation of the Sardar Sarovar Project (SSP) Dam has created unimaginable impacts for lakhs of people in several districts, the full contours of the damage are still not fully available. But another intriguing aspect of this man-made disaster has come to light. Shockingly, there was no power generation at the 1200 MW River Bed Power House (RBPH) of the SSP from Sept 6 to Sept 16. This not only means loss of power generation of about 270 million units (MU), worth over Rs 80 Crores even at low price of Rs 3 per unit), but also it would have meant release of 1200 cumecs or, 42000 cusecs and over ten days, this would have meant reduction of about 12000 cumecs or 4.2 lakh cusecs from peak discharge for 24 hours, and this itself would have hugely reduced the flood disaster.
Continue reading “Avoidable flood disaster from unaccountable Sardar Sarovar operation: Why was River Bed Power House stopped since Sept 6?”Category: Dam floods
सरदार सरोवर बाँध संचालन की लापरवाही से गुजरात में फिर आई बाढ़
सरदार सरोवर परियोजना (एसएसपी) बांध संचालन अधिकारियों की लेटलतीफी और गैर-जिम्मेदार व्यवहार से गुजरात में बाँध के निचले इलाके एक बार फिर ऐसी बाढ़ की मार झेल रहे हैं जिसे काफी हद तक टाला जा सकता था। भरूच में गोल्डन ब्रिज पर जल स्तर आज 17 सितंबर, 2023 को उच्चतम बाढ़ स्तर (एचएफएल) के करीब पहुंच रहा है, लेकिन अगर एसएसपी अधिकारियों ने समय रहते उपलब्ध जानकारी के आधार पर और बाँध संचालन नियमों जैसे रूल कर्व सिद्धांत का पालन कर कार्रवाई की होती तो इस बाढ़ का एसएसपी बाँध से ऊपरी और निचले दोनों क्षेत्रों में बहुत कम प्रभाव होता।
Continue reading “सरदार सरोवर बाँध संचालन की लापरवाही से गुजरात में फिर आई बाढ़”Unaccountable Sardar Sarovar operators again bring avoidable floods in downstream Gujarat
Late, lethargic and unaccountable actions of Sardar Sarovar Project (SSP) Dam operators have once again contributed to huge and largely avoidable downstream floods in Gujarat. The water level at Golden Bridge in Bharuch is approaching HFL (Highest Flood Level) today on Sept 17, 2023, but these floods could have been significantly lower and much less disastrous both for SSP upstream and downstream areas if SSP authorities had taken action earlier based on actionable information available and based on sound reservoir operation principles of following a rule curve.
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No dispute about role of Pong and Bhakra dams in Punjab Aug 2023 floods
Large parts of Punjab are facing flood disaster since about Aug 14, 2023. There is no doubt that these floods are due to sudden, untimely releases of massive quantities of water from BBMB managed Pong and Bhakra Dams. It is welcome news that even Himachal Pradesh Chief Secretary has now listed the three BBMB managed dams situated in HP, namely, Pong, Bhakra and Pandoh among the 21 dams that have violated the Dam Safety Norms and also the CWC Guidelines of 2015 and action will be taken against them.
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Role of dams: 2021 Flood Management In MP’s Sindh River
Guest Article by: Aishani Goswami and Rahul Singh
Walking through Dhimarpura village, in Seondha block, Datia district, Madhya Pradesh, heaps of broken clay tiles, wooden logs and other construction materials could be seen. Temporary tent-like shelters made of plastic sheets were erected in place of the houses that fell due to the floods in River Sindh in 2021.
In this article we try and put together available information to understand the role played by the Madhikheda system of dams in worsening the flood disaster in Sindh River basin in first week of August 2021. It may be noted that whenever a dam proposed, one of the claimed benefits is that the dams can help moderate floods in the downstream area. This is indeed true, provided, the dam is operated with the objective. However, when the dam is not operated with that objective, then the dam can actually end up acting like a force multiplier for the flooded downstream areas. Let us see if Madhikheda dam played that role in August 2021.
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April 2023: Breach in Micro Hydel Canal Damages crops in Punjab
(Feature Image: Breach in GGSSTP micro hydel canal on April 26, 2023. Image by The Tribune)
A sudden breach in a micro hydel canal of Guru Gobind Singh Super Thermal Plant (GGSSTP) has damaged standing wheat crops on hundreds of acres of land in Ranjitpura village of Ropar district, Punjab. The breached occurred near Batarla around 08:00 am on April 24, 2023.
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Dam Floods, Failures and Disasters in 2022
This annual overview highlights the dam induced flood disasters, dam failure incidents in India during 2022. This year, the massive floods in Godavari have exposed the flood vulnerability of giant projects like Polavaram and Kaleshwaram. Also there have been multiple dam failures and dam induced floods in Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. In absence of coordination and data sharing Hirakud induced floods in Mahanadi basin have affected several villages in Odisha and Chhattisgarh. There have been several instances of unscientific operations of dams and the operators continue to hide behind TINA (There Is No Alternative) excuse. The functioning of CWC as key flood forecasting and management agency has not shown any significant improvement. However, now it has accepted that faulty dam operations can lead to flood in downstream areas. Please see links to our 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021 annual compilations on the subject.
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Madhya Pradesh: Collapse of Lateri Stop Dam in Vidisha
(Feature image: Flood water rushing through damaged portion of Lateri stop dam. Source: Hum Samvet)
Portion of a stop dam in Lateri Block of Vidisha district of Madhya Pradesh collapsed in morning hours of Monday, August 22, 2022 amidst heavy rains. The earthen dam is located at Islamnagar near Murvas in Lateri block of Vidisha district. The stop dam in Betwa basin is reportedly built a year ago by forest department. The reason behind the collapse is stated to be heavy rainfall.
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Reservoir Operations Fail People in Chalakudy River Basin in Kerala in 2020
Guest Article by S P Ravi
Kerala continues to witness unusual monsoon rainfall patterns for the third straight year in 2020. Kerala had witnessed its worst flood in almost a century in 2018. The 2019 flood was probably second only to the 2018 floods over the last 50 years, with many places experiencing larger floods than that in 2018. While the state did not face huge floods this year, tragedy struck in the form of the Pettimudi landslide near Munnar in Idukki district. It buried alive 70 members of plantation labourer families, making it the worst ever landslide in Kerala in terms of human causality. Kerala has also witnessed its wettest monsoon in September in this millennium with a rainfall of 601 mm, surpassing the previous highest of 526 mm recorded in 2007. The S-W monsoon period is now over and the state received 2227 mm rainfall, which is 9 percent above long term average.
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Central India downpour brings unprecedented flows in Brahmani, Chambal, Godavari, Mahanadi, Narmada, Suvarnarekha
A massive wave of flood is flowing down the rivers originating in Central India states from Odisha in East to Gujarat-Rajasthan in the west. At least fourteen river sites have seen breach of Highest Flood Levels (HFL) in last four days, a record by itself: 7 in Mahanadi, 5 in Godavari, 2 in JNarmada and one each in Suvarnarekha and Chambal. In at least four of these cases, the earlier HFL had survived for 26 years and has now been broken.
The flood wave that is traveling down is above above 35500 cumecs (12.54 lakh cusecs) in Narmada (at Indira Sagar Dam), above 25000 cumecs (8.83 lakh cusecs), in case of Mahanadi (at Hirakud Dam) and Godavari (at Gosikhurd Dam) rivers & over 15000 cumecs (5.3 lakh cusecs) in Chambal (at Gandhi Sagar Dam) River. Continue reading “Central India downpour brings unprecedented flows in Brahmani, Chambal, Godavari, Mahanadi, Narmada, Suvarnarekha”
SANDRP 