Increasing incidences of Glacial Lake Outburst Floods (GLOFs) are being experienced in the Indian Himalayas. One of the most notable examples of GLOF was the Chorabari Lake GLOF that occurred on 16th June 2013 in Kedarnath, Uttarakhand[1] which was triggered by heavy rainfall induced mass movements into the lake. The GLOF devastated villages of Kedarnath, Rambara, and Gaurikund. Around 6,000 people were officially killed, and a significant number of the deaths were linked to the GLOF. Countless bridges and roads were washed away, and about thirty hydropower plants were affected or completely devastated. Several Hydropower projects resulted in exponential losses to life and livelihoods. Whole of Uttarakhand was affected in the disaster, and a significant proportion of it was related with GLOF.
Continue reading “Hydropower-GLOF Nexus in Chenab Headwaters: Absence of credible studies and accountable governance”Tag: central water commission
दिल्ली में नई सरकार: क्या अब निर्मल होगी यमुना?
दिल्ली विधानसभा चुनाव प्रचार के दौरान यमुना नदी प्रदूषण एक महत्वपूर्ण राजनितिक मुद्दा बना। चुनाव जीतने के बाद स्वयं प्रधानमंत्री और भाजपा पार्टी के वरिष्ठ नेताओं ने ‘आप’ सरकार की हार के लिए यमुना की दुर्दशा को एक प्रमुख कारण बताया। साथ में यमुना को साफ करने की बात कही। ऐसे में क्या दिल्ली के नागरिक एक स्वच्छ बहती नदी की उम्मीद रख सकते हैं?
Continue reading “दिल्ली में नई सरकार: क्या अब निर्मल होगी यमुना?”
Will Sardar Sarovar AGAIN create avoidable flood disaster in Sept 2024?
India Meteorological Department (IMD) Flash Flood Bulletin (FFB) at 11.30 hours on Sept 1 2024[i] for “24 hours Outlook for Flash Flood Risk till 0530 hrs of 02-09-2024” includes large number of Narmada valley districts of MP. All this water is likely to come to Sardar Sarovar Dam as Big upstream dams like Bargi (96% full), Tawa (94%), Indira Sagar (97%) and Omkareshwar (72%) are all almost full and the soil in the Narmada basin is already almost fully saturated, all figures from the daily reservoir bulletin of Narmada Control Authority as on Aug 29 2024 (https://nca.gov.in/dailyreports.htm).
Continue reading “Will Sardar Sarovar AGAIN create avoidable flood disaster in Sept 2024?”
Bharudpura Dam in MP faces disaster after first filling in Aug 2022
Bharudpura dam (also called Karam dam) on Karam river, a tributary of Narmada river, near Gujari village in Dharampuri Tehsil of Dhar district of Madhya Pradesh faced major disaster after the very first filling in August 2022 when there was seepage from and massive erosion of the dam wall starting from Aug 11, 2022. The disaster at the Rs 304.44 crore project whose construction started in 2018 created a major turbulence in Madhya Pradesh with allegations of sub-standard work, corruption and attempts to hush up the safety issues. As a precaution, the administration has on Aug 12, 2022 vacated 12 downstream villages in Dhar district and 6 in Khargone district[i] and stopped traffic on roads close to the dam[ii]. Dhar Collector also said that the efforts to stop the seepage were not successful and that possible reason for erosion is the use of black rather than red soil in the construction of the earthn dam.
Continue reading “Bharudpura Dam in MP faces disaster after first filling in Aug 2022“
Fatal Disaster at Shongtong Hydro in Himachal Pradesh in June 2022
Two workers of 450 MW Shongtong hydropower Project[i] were killed when the trolley they were using overturned inside the tunn[ii]el of the under-construction project near Ralli in Kalpa Tehsil of Kinnaur district of Himachal Pradesh on Tuesday, June 21, 2022. The police have registered a case in connection with the incident.
Continue reading “Fatal Disaster at Shongtong Hydro in Himachal Pradesh in June 2022”
DRP NB 19 July 2021: Unprecedented Europe floods another wake up call
(Feature image:- Germany mounts huge rescue effort after floods leave dozens dead and many more missing https://edition.cnn.com/2021/07/15/europe/germany-deaths-severe-flooding-intl/index.html)
The Europe floods this last week are unprecedented in so many respects. It has lead to close to 200 confirmed deaths so far, affected the Rhine basin areas of Germany, Belgium, Netherlands, Switzerland and Luxembourg. It is the result of worst recorded rainfall in a century, leading to unprecedented water levels that rose so suddenly that otherwise super alert and smart disaster management system could not neither accurately and in time predict the catastrophe nor remove these people from the path of the destruction. The climate scientists are seeing clear signature of climate change, though more studies are called for. The call for urgent and much more action to reverse the global warming are getting louder in a continent where possibly the climate action is most advanced.
As The New York Times reported on July 19, 2021 (Monday),
| The authorities ordered new evacuations on Saturday, and heavy rains in the southern German region of Bavaria caused still more flooding on Sunday. |
| German meteorologists called the flooding the worst in 500 years, if not a millennium. The disaster thrust the issue of climate change to the center of pivotal elections this fall. |
Belguim: Street pavements burst open, houses flattened, and entire villages were destroyed in what’s being described as one of the worst flooding disasters to hit Western Europe in more than two centuries. In Liège, Belgium’s third-largest city, water from the Meuse river overflowed Thursday evening into parts of the city center, prompting city officials to call for residents to evacuate the area or seek higher ground.
Countries like India should see this as a major and yet another wake up call to start taking action to reverse the global warming emissions. Much more can and should be done urgently.
Continue reading “DRP NB 19 July 2021: Unprecedented Europe floods another wake up call”
Dam Safety Bill 2019: Will it help prevent Dam Disasters in India?
1979 seems to be a watershed or may be bloodshed year about Dam Safety in India. That year, Central Dam Safety Organisation was for the first time set up in CWC (Central Water Commission). That was also a year in which over a 1000 delegates from all over the world gathered in Delhi under the aegis of ICOLD (International Commission on Large Dams). But the most important event or rather gruesome tragedy preceded both these developments. On Aug 11, 1979, the Machhu II dam disaster happened in Morbi in Saurashtra, Gujarat, that killed between 2000 (officially accepted by Central Water Commission) to 25000 people (local estimates). Continue reading “Dam Safety Bill 2019: Will it help prevent Dam Disasters in India?”
IMD forecast of Water Volume in River Basins: Can it help prevent Dam floods?
On Aug 16, 2019, a news report[i] announced that Pune IMD (India Meteorological Department) will now (from Aug 1, 2019) provide to CWC (Central Water Commission) forecasts of water volume that may accumulate in river basins across the India “In a bid to ensure effective reservoir management.”
Pulak Guhathakurta, head, Climate Application and User Interface at Climate Research and Service at IMD-Pune was quoted saying, “We will make use of our forecasts and rainfall information to calculate the total volume of water expected to accumulate in every river basin and sub-river basin on the basis of its area expanse. This information will then be shared with CWC and other authorities, like the department of irrigation. It will be handy and can be decisive while deciding the release of water from time to time, especially during the monsoon.” This statement again emphasised that this was being done to help reservoir management. The news report than mentioned the Kerala floods in 2018 and role of dams therein. Continue reading “IMD forecast of Water Volume in River Basins: Can it help prevent Dam floods?”
India’s Water Management Crisis
Blessings, like disasters, are complicated. Blessings come with a lot of attachments. And if you cannot manage them, you could invite disasters.
India is a blessed country in so many ways as far as water endowment is concerned. Our monsoons, rivers, aquifers, the Himalayas, the rich traditional techniques and management systems, to name a few. But the impacts of accumulated mismanagement over the last several decades are now coming out in the form of crisis in multiple ways. Continue reading “India’s Water Management Crisis”
Will CAG Reports of Irrigation Sector in 2018 help improve performance?
What lessons emerge if we analyze the audit reports on irrigation sector for 2018? In this blogpost, we take an overview of the audit findings of CAG reports of Irrigation Sector that entered public domain in the year 2018. Continue reading “Will CAG Reports of Irrigation Sector in 2018 help improve performance?”
SANDRP 