Chandigarh Water Sources; Streams: The City Not So Beautiful

October 23, 2018October 23, 2018 SANDRP2 Comments

Chandigarh is widely known for its well-designed urban areas and associated amenities. No doubt, the city is relatively congestion free and cleaner. The roads are wider, sideways have adequate space for walkers and cyclists and they are mostly covered under thick tree canopy earning its tag of ‘City Beautiful’.

However less is known about and rivers. This pictorial account tries to throw some light on present day situation of water sources like wells, ponds and rivers in and around Chandigarh town.

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DRP: 22 October 2018: Looming Drought in Western India

October 22, 2018February 25, 2026 SANDRP2 Comments

(Feature image Gujarat state cumulative rainfall during SW monsoon 2018; Source: IMD)

Maharashtra State’s groundwater surveys and development agency (GSDA) has warned of a water scarcity in 11,487 villages of 167 tehsils in the State. In its 2018-19 report, the GSDA, which comes under the department of water supply and sanitation, has said the study of the groundwater level (in comparison to the level in October in the last five years) has shown that of the 353 tehsils in the State, 13,984 villages in 252 tehsils have shown a decrease by more than one metre.

Between October 15 and 21, 380 tankers were used across the State, against 91 tankers in the corresponding period last year. A week prior to that the number was 354, and 329 tankers were used in the first week of October.

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Dams · Monsoon

Uttarakhand Monsoon 2018 Overview: Rainfall Normal, Distribution Abnormal

October 18, 2018October 19, 2018 SANDRPLeave a comment

Uttrakhand has received 3% below normal rainfall during South West Monsoon 2018. Though the figure falls in normal category, however district level rainfall data paints a very different picture. Out of total 13 districts in the Himalayan state, four districts namely Almora, Pauri Garhwal, Tehri Garhwal and Udham Singh Nagar have received deficit rains, whereas three districts which includes Bageshwar, Chamoli and Haridwar have got rainfall in excess. Out of the rest six districts four are on marginally positive side and two are on marginally negative side.

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Dams · Ganga

HOW MODI GOVERNMENT WENT HORRIBLY WRONG ON GANGA REJUVENATION

October 16, 2018 SANDRP4 Comments

Guest Blog by Manoj Misra

Allowing Swami Gyan Swarup Sanand (formerly Prof. GD Agarwal) to die unheard is perhaps the most tragic but not the only serious faux pas committed by Prime Minister Modi and his team in the matter of Ganga rejuvenation. It was actually the culmination of a series of missteps that began early in his tenure.

It can reasonably be presumed that candidate Modi was sincere and serious when he made those famous statements at Varanasi during his campaign (and even later) regarding Ganga rejuvenation. They seemed straight from his heart and seemed to be convincing to many. Everybody thought, “Here is a Prime Minister, who does not – contrary to his predecessor – need goading to make all the right noises”. Hopefully these noises shall result into right actions as well. So much so that Swami Sanand waited almost four years before making his discomfort on lack of any worthwhile progress on Ganga rejuvenation known directly to the Prime Minister. He wrote a number of letters before and after embarking (beginning 22 June 2018) on his legendary 111 day fast that ultimately led to his martyrdom on 11 Oct 2018.

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Dams · DRP News Bulletin

DRP: 15 Oct 2018: Reuters Corroborates that Dams Played Major Role in Kerala Floods

October 15, 2018February 25, 2026 SANDRPLeave a comment

International news agency, after independent research, have corroborated what SANDRP has been saying: Mismanagement of dams played big role in worsening Kerala floods.

-“The release could have started earlier so that by Aug. 9 there would have been left-over capacities in the reservoirs to store the water,” said Biswajit Mukhopadhyay, director of water resources at U.S-based engineering firm IEA, who analysed some of the publicly available data at the request of Reuters.

– Still, dozens of flood victims interviewed by Reuters, who live in villages dotting the banks of Kerala’s biggest river, the ‎244 km Periyar, say they faced no floods despite torrential rain in late July and early August. All of them said waters only rose overnight on Aug. 15. That was when more intense rainfall forced KSEB to rapidly ramp-up releases of water from Idukki and Idamalayar reservoirs, which feed into the Periyar.

– Kerala’s revenue secretary and head of disaster management, P.H. Kurien, told Reuters he has twice written to KSEB requesting EAPs and has yet to receive them. KSEB’s Pillai said EAPs and dam operation manuals were still being prepared. CWC said it was working with Kerala’s government to speed this up. The Kerala Chief Minister’s office did not respond to requests for comment. https://widerimage.reuters.com/story/did-dams-make-indias-once-in-century-floods-worse (11 Oct. 2018)

And this fantastic infographic: https://fingfx.thomsonreuters.com/gfx/rngs/INDIA-FLOOD/010080MF18N/index.html (11 Oct. 2018)

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Dams · Monsoon

Bundelkhand: Overview of 2018 Monsoon

October 12, 2018October 12, 2018 SANDRP3 Comments

Bundelkhand is known as a drought prone region. It is comprised of 7 districts of Uttar Pradesh and 6 districts of Madhya Pradesh. Monsoon rains are crucial. However for past several years, the region has faced deficit rains leading to water scarcity particularly for agriculture related activities. Let us the situation of of Monsoon rain in Bundelkhand this year.

Bundelkhand is part of Lower Yamuna Basin, for which IMD provides rainfall figures in its river basin wise rainfall maps. This basin received 785.4 mm rainfall in 2018 monsoon, 9% below normal rainfall of 863 mm for this sub basin. IMD needs to provide rainfall figures for each sub basins, including Ken, Betwa, Dhasan etc.

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Dams · DRP News Bulletin

DRP: 8 Oct 2018: “WELCOME CHANGE! Kerala Depletes Reservoir in Anticipation of Deluge from Cyclone”

October 8, 2018February 25, 2026 SANDRPLeave a comment

In spite of all the protests against criticism of Floods worsened by Dams in Kerala in Aug, its refreshing that Kerala now accepts needs for better operation of dams with IMD red alert in three districts:

– Senior officers expressed confidence that the dams can contain the flood waters even if it rains continuously for four days. Better late than never, commented experts on the Kerala State Electricity Board’s (KSEB) decision to keep the water level low. “We’re prepared to face any eventuality. There won’t be any need to open the dam shutters even if it rains continuously for four days. We’re maintaining the water level low in major dams. The water level in Mattupatty dam is close to the full reservoir level and we’ve decided to release water from Thursday. The situation is under control and there’s no need to panic,” said KSEB chairman N S Pillai.

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Dams · Free flowing rivers · Wild and Scenic Rivers Act

The Singing River: Story of America’s Largest Free-flowing river

October 7, 2018October 7, 2018 SANDRPLeave a comment

As we approached a bridge on the rumbling green river, I concentrated all my senses to my ears. After all, we were about to cross the Singing River. Legend has it that a low humming sounds rise from the Pascagoula River[i], heard only by a few. Poignant stories of love and loss are interwoven into the sounds of the river. Continue reading “The Singing River: Story of America’s Largest Free-flowing river” →

Char Dham Highway · Dams

Char Dham Highway Project: An overview

October 6, 2018October 7, 2018 SANDRP8 Comments

(Feature image Source Char Dham Road ProjectL Stairway to heaven or highway to hell by Siddharth Agarwal)

The Char Dham All Weather Road Project has been approved by National Green Tribunal (NGT) on September 26, 2018. The controversial project has evoked several environmental concerns right from the inception stage.

Almost more than one and half year into the unmindful implementation of the project, the risks and fears associated with the project are clearly visible throughout the construction route. In last few months, several independent reports have also raised serious concerns over the haphazard manner in which the project is being executed through sensitive hilly terrain. Continue reading “Char Dham Highway Project: An overview” →

Dams

CWC Flood Forecasting: Anomalies between Website and SOP Document

October 2, 2018October 4, 2018 SANDRP3 Comments

Central Water Commission (CWC) is the only agency in India doing flood forecasting, it becomes very important to understand what CWC does in this regard. The CWC flood forecasting website[i] is the main media through which CWC provides the flood forecasting. CWC has also published on its website, the document giving Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for flood forecasting in 2018[ii]. The Home page of the CWC’s flood forecasting site says that CWC provides Level forecasting for 166 sites and Inflow forecasting for 60 sites. SOP document, however, gives these figures in Table 1, but in Table 2 (as also the full list given in Annexure 1.1 of SOP document), it gives state wise break up for 182 Level forecasting and 93 Inflow forecasting sites. So we can see anomalies in these two sources even about the number of forecasting sites.

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