As India prepares to celebrate 75th Independence day on August 15, 2021, large parts of Bihar along the Ganga river, including Patna (flood water entered colonies near Ganga in Patna) and Bhagalpur are preparing to face unprecedented floods. In fact, Central Water Commission’s (CWC) flood monitoring site at Hathidah in Patna district crossed the HIGHEST FLOOD LEVEL (HFL) of 43.17 m at 0300 hours in early morning on Aug 13, 2021. The water level is already at 43.33 m at 1300 hrs on Aug 14. It is forecast to reach 43.45 m by 0800 on independence day still with rising trend. This is apparent from the CWC hydrograph of this site shown above.
Continue reading “Why are Patna & Bhagalpur facing unprecedented floods on India’s 75th independence day?”Category: Dam Induced Flood Disaster
Andhra Pradesh: Pulichintala Dam Gate disaster shows improper maintenance and operation
In another dam related disaster in Andhra Pradesh, a flood gate of K L Rao multi-purpose irrigation project also known as Pulichintala Dam was washed away on August 5, 2021 raising flood alarm in downstream areas along Krishna river. As per latest information the gate has been fixed and officials have started filling up the reservoir again. However, there is no official statement regarding exact causes, financial losses, damages to dam structure and downstream flood impact caused by the apparently avoidable dam disaster. The rule curve seems to be violated in operation of every dam and the gates do not seem to have been properly maintained. An independent enquiry needs to be immediately set up to find out what lessons we can learn and how we can fix accountability for the disaster.
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Dam Floods & Embankment Breaches in South West Monsoon 2020
Improper operations of dams, disasters related to dams and hydro projects and breaching of embankments have been aggravating flood disasters during every monsoon. There have been several such incidents during South West Monsoon 2020, taking heavy toll on people and property which could have been avoided or impacts reduced in many cases with proper dam operations and proper maintenance of the embankments. This compilation attempts to put together all such instances when avoidable flood disasters were created by improper operation of dams and breaching of embankments in the south west monsoon 2020.
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Role of dams in Kerala Floods 2018: The Debate
ROLE OF DAMS IN 2018 KERALA FLOODS: Rejoinder of J Harsha to the response by Sudheer et al
Rejoinder Article by: J.Harsha
An article titled “Role of dams on the floods of August 2018 in Periyar River Basin” was published by Sudheer et al. (2019) in Current Science. A rebuttal was prepared and thanks to South Asia Network of Dams, Rivers and People (SANDRP), the same was published by SANDRP on 25th August 2020 (https://sandrp.in/2020/08/25/role-of-dams-in-kerala-floods-distortion-of-science/) for which Sudheer et al. (2019) has now furnished a response (https://sandrp.in/2020/09/19/response-of-sudheer-et-al-to-the-comments-by-mr-j-harsha-on-the-article-role-of-dams-on-the-floods-of-aug-2018-in-periyar-river-basin-kerala/).
In the rebuttal published by SANDRP, I had questioned the very basis of fitting HEC-HMS model for Periyar River Basin (PRB) by Sudheer et al. (2019), and also challenged the assumptions made by them, the methodology followed and the consequent voluminous inferences such as catchment response at Neeleshwaram (L2), virgin simulations, bank full discharges and particularly inferences that indicted nature for the flood calamity but exonerating the role of dams for the floods of Kerala in 2018.
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Response of Sudheer et al to the Comments by Mr. J. Harsha on the article, “Role of dams in the floods of Aug 2018 in Periyar River Basin, Kerala”
Sudheer, K P1,2,*, S. Murty Bhallamudi1,3, Balaji Narasimhan1,3, Jobin Thomas1, Bindhu, V M1, Vamsikrishna Vema1,4, Cicily Kurian1,
1Department of civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai – 600036,
2Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA.
3Indo German Centre for Sustainability, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai – 600036
*Corresponding Author: sudheer@iitm.ac.in
The authors of Sudheer et al. (2019) – hereinafter referred to as ‘authors’ – appreciate Mr. J. Harsha (hereinafter referred to as ‘commenter’) for his judgmental assessment (in his blog appeared on SANDRP website- “https://sandrp.in” on August 25, 2020, see: https://sandrp.in/2020/08/25/role-of-dams-in-kerala-floods-distortion-of-science/) of the authors’ work “Role of dams on the floods of August 2018 in Periyar River Basin, Kerala” (published in the Current Science in 2019: [DOI: 10.18520/cs/v116/i5/780-794]). As mentioned in Sudheer et al. (2019), the primary objective of the article was to examine whether the early release of the water stored in the reservoirs would have attenuated the flood peaks, and if so, what would have been the extent of the attenuation, in the context of debates and discussions in the social, political, as well as scientific domains based on non-sequitur speculations. Accordingly, the authors designed a scientific exercise using a widely used hydrological model (HEC-HMS) to understand the role of the dams in the Periyar River Basin (PRB) in the 2018 flooding situation.
Continue reading “Response of Sudheer et al to the Comments by Mr. J. Harsha on the article, “Role of dams in the floods of Aug 2018 in Periyar River Basin, Kerala””
How SSNNL violated its own Flood Memorandum 2020 during recent SSD induced floods
During the recent Sardar Sarovar Dam (SSD) induced flood disaster in areas downstream of the dam in Gujarat, the dam operator, SSNNL (Sardar Sarovar Narmada Nigam Limited) violated its own Flood Memorandum (FM) 2020[i] in multiple ways.
The FM-2020 titled “Disaster Management Plan – 2020” provides detailed information about how the dam operation is to be done during South West Monsoon 2020, that is from June 1, 2020 to Oct 15, 2020, or whenever the monsoon has withdrawn. It is published by SSNNL’s Flood Control Cell and carries the names of six highest functionaries of SSNNL on second page: Chairman, Managing Director, Jt MD, Director (CAD), Director (Canal) and Director (Civil). It says Officer in charge of Flood Control Cell of SSNNL is Executive Engineer (Narmada Project Main Canal Division-2) and the FM-2020 is compiled by Superintending Engineer, Narmada Project Design Circle.
An earlier version of the Flood Memorandum for 2018[ii] is also available, which is useful as it has some additional information.
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સરદાર સરોવરને કારણે ભરૂચ પૂરમાં સપડાયું: નિગમના દાવાની પાછળનું સત્ય
સપ્ટેમ્બર ૨, ૨૦૨૦[i]ના અમારા લેખમાં અમે સત્તાવાર માહિતીનો ઉપયોગ કરીને દેખાડ્યું હતું કે સરદાર સરોવર ડેમ (SSD)ને કારણે ભરૂચમાં જે પૂર આવ્યાં તેને ટાળવાનું શક્ય હતું. ડેમના હેઠવાસમાં ઑગસ્ટ ૨૯, ૨૦૨૦થી ઓચિંતા જ ૧૦.૭૨ લાખ ક્યુસેક પાણીનો જબ્બરદસ્ત જથ્થો છોડવામાં આવ્યો અને ભરૂચને પૂરની આફતે ઘેરી લીધું. સરદાર સરોવર ડૅમને લગતા બધા કાર્યકલાપ માટે જવાબદાર સરદાર સરોવર નર્મદા નિગમ લિમિટેડે (SSNNL) હજી સુધી એનો સ્પષ્ટ, સુસંગત અને તથ્ય આધારિત જવાબ નથી આપ્યો. જો કે, નિગમ/ગુજરાત સરકાર (GoG)ના કેટલાક પ્રવક્તાઓએ દાવો કર્યો છે કે સરદાર સરોવર ડેમને કારણે ભરૂચ બહુ મોટી હોનારતમાંથી બચી ગયું છે. આ દાવો પાયા વિનાનો તો છેજ, એ તાજા જખમ પર મીઠું ભભરાવવા જેવો પણ છે.
SSDનું સંચાલન કેમ થયું, કેમ થવું જોઈતું હતું, ભરૂચે જે જબ્બર સંકટ ભોગવ્યું તેના માટે કોણ જવાબદાર હતા તેની તપાસ માત્ર કોઈ સ્વતંત્ર પેનલ (જેમાં સરકારના કાર્યરત કે નિવૃત્ત અધિકારીઓ ન હોય) દ્વારા થાય તો જ આ સત્યને બહાર લાવી શકાશે.
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SSD induced Bharuch Flood disaster: Reality behind SSNNL claims that it saved Bharuch
We showed on Sept 2, 2020[i] using official information that Sardar Sarovar Dam (SSD) created an avoidable flood disaster in Bharuch, downstream of SSD starting on Aug 29, 2020, due to sudden, adhoc release of massive quantities water upto 10.72 lakh cusecs. The Sardar Sarovar Narmada Nigam Limited (SSNNL), official agency responsible for operation of the SSD is yet to provide any clear, coherent and fact based response. However, some of the spokespersons of SSNNL/ Government of Gujarat (GOG) are claiming that scientific operation of SSD saved Bharuch from bigger disaster. While this claim has no basis, this is like spraying salt on the fresh wounds.
Only an independent (not by serving or retired bureaucrats of the government) investigation would be able to bring out the truth as to how SSD operated, how it should have been operated, who is responsible for the massive disaster that Bharuch experienced, how can we fix accountability and what lessons we can learn for future.
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ભરૂચમાં પૂરની તારાજી માટે સરદાર સરોવર જવાબદાર
સરદાર સરોવર ડૅમ (SSD)ના સંચાલકો જરાય વિચાર કર્યા વિના, અને કહી શકો કે, ક્રૂરતાથી, પાણી કેટલું છોડવું, ક્યારે છોડવું તેના નિર્ણયો લે છે. એમના નિર્ણયની અસર હેઠવાસમાં શું થશે તેના પર તો જરાય ધ્યાન નથી આપતા. કંઈ નહીં તો, ૨૬મી ઑગસ્ટ ૨૦૨૦થી જ એમને સત્તાવાર માહિતી મળી ગઈ હતી કે ભારે વરસાદને કારણે નર્મદાના ઉપરવાસમાં પાણી વધવા લાગ્યું છે. આ માહિતી પર એ કામ કરી શક્યા હોત તેમ છતાં ૨૯મી ઑગસ્ટ, શનિવારની વહેલી સવાર સુધી એમણે ડેમનાં સ્પિલ-વે ગેટ્સમાંથી પાણી ન છોડ્યું. ડૅમ ૭૦ ટકા ભરાઈ ગયો હોવા છતાં એમણે પાવર હાઉસો પણ ન ચલાવ્યાં. ઓચિંતા જ ૨૯મીની રાતે એમણે દસ લાખ ક્યુસેક – દર સેકંડે ઘન ફૂટ (૨૮,૩૨૦ ક્યુમૅક એટલે કે દર સેકંડે ઘન મીટર) પાણી છોડવાનું શરૂ કરી દીધું [i].. ત્રણ દિવસ પછી ૧ સપ્ટેમ્બર, મંગળવારની સાંજે એમણે મોટા ભાગનાં સ્પિલ ગેટ બંધ કરી દીધાં. આમ સ્પિલ-વેમાંથી નીકળતા પાણીનો જથ્થો પહેલાં કરતાં માત્ર દસમા ભાગનો રહ્યો. આ ૩-૪ દિવસમાં (૨૯મી ઑગસ્ટ અને ૧લી સપ્ટેમ્બર વચ્ચે) પાણીનો ૩૦,૦૦૦ ક્યુમૅક સુધીનોજબ્બરદસ્ત જથ્થો સ્પિલ-વે મારફતે છોડવામાં આવ્યો; એના પહેલાં કે તેના પછી કંઈ જ નહીં! પરિણામે હેઠવાસમાં ગરૂડેશ્વરથી ચાંદોદ અને ભરૂચ સુધી પૂરનાં વિનાશકારી પાણી ફરી વળ્યાં. પરંતુ લાગે છે કે, સરદાર સરોવર પ્રોજેક્ટ (SSP)ના સત્તાવાળાઓ અથવા ગુજરાત સરકારના પેટનું પાણી પણ નથી હાલ્યું. હવે સમય આવી ગયો છે કે ગુજરાતની જનતા જાગે અને આ માનવસર્જિત તારાજી માટે SSPના ખેરખાંઓનો જવાબ માગે.
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SANDRP 