Tag: Chambal

DRP NB 270223: How much Pump Storage Hydro capacity is required in India?
DRP News Bulletin

DRP NB 270223: How much Pump Storage Hydro capacity is required in India?

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(Feature Image: State steps up pumped hydro storage projects amid coal crisis. Source: EQ Mag Pro/ May 2022)

On Feb 15, 2023, Union Ministry of Power issued draft guidelines for Pump Storage Projects, inviting comments from stakeholders in 15 days to the email id – hydro2-mop@gov.in. The guidelines say that more Pump Storage Projects (PSPs) are required in view of increasing solar and wind power capacity connected to the grid, to stabilize the grid, store the power to make it available during non-solar and non-wind power hours and for peaking power, reactive power, etc. It describes the PSP as “clean, green, safe, and non-explosive” and “environment friendly” option. No studies or basis are provided for this sweeping conclusion.

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Uttar Pradesh: Satellite Images Reveal Betwa River Ravaged by Mining
Betwa River

Uttar Pradesh: Satellite Images Reveal Betwa River Ravaged by Mining

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(Feature Image: Screen shot of undated google earth image showing multiple vertical, horizontal bunds created by deep, mechanized riverbed mining across Betwa near Bheri Dariya in Sarila tehsil of Hamirpur district.)

The comparison of Sentinel satellite images dated February 20, 2023 with images of September-October 2022 reveal large scale riverbed mining operations along Betwa river at multiple sites in Jhansi, Jaluan and Hamirpur districts. The details of some of the sites is given in table below followed by the satellite imageries and time lapse animation of few sites.

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2022: Riverbed Mining Destroying Indian River Eco-system & Freshwater Species
Sand Mining

2022: Riverbed Mining Destroying Indian River Eco-system & Freshwater Species

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(Feature image sources: Clock wise (1) Mahseer fish/ Mongabay India, April 2022. (2) Gharials in Chambal/India Today, July 2022. (3) Gangetic dolphin/ECO NE. (4) Smooth-coated Otters in Cauvery/Round Glass, Jan. 2023.)

Indiscriminate mining of riverbeds for sand, gravel, pebbles have been rampant across the country increasingly damaging India’s rivers. The incidents of illegal sand mining, mafias, administrative actions & inactions, govt policies and court cases are routinely covered by the media. However the irreversible impacts of destructive riverbed mining operations on fresh water species and river eco-system are little understood, least explored, rarely covered by media and fails to attract the required attention from govts, judiciary and public at large. 

To some extent, we have been monitoring and highlighting the loop holes in sand mining governance. As part of our annual overview, in 2022 we have complied this separate report underlining the adverse impacts of riverbed mining on rivers and on aquatic life, fresh water species including endangered gharials, dolphins, turtles, fish etc.

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Dam Floods, Failures and Disasters in 2022
Dam floods

Dam Floods, Failures and Disasters in 2022

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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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DRP NB 281122: Justice Lokur at IRW 2022: We need to be vocally more aggressive to make a difference
DRP News Bulletin

DRP NB 281122: Justice Lokur at IRW 2022: We need to be vocally more aggressive to make a difference

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In his key note address at the final session of India Rivers Week 2022, Justice Madan Lokur, former judge of Supreme Court of India said, “Time has come we need to be a little more active and aggressive vocally to ensure that we are listened to about the problems we all are facing. Farmers struggle, the CAA amendment etc. are good examples. There is need for a political will to bring about any change. How do we generate such a political will is the issue.”

Among other messages Justice Lokur gave in his key note address at the final session of India Rivers Week 2022 on Nov 27, 2022 included: “Rivers belong to all, not a select few… We need to ensure that we are effective in our work, our messages.”

The two day, five session India Rivers Week 2022 function focused on use of rivers as waterways, organized in collaboration between India Rivers Forum (IRF is constituted by ten organizations now) and Manthan Adhyayan Kendra ended on Nov 27, 2022. The IRW 2022 sessions had a number of highlights, we will try to bring them to you in separate articles.

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India’s Rivers Breaching High Flood Levels in SW Monsoon 2022
CWC - Central Water Commission · Dams

India’s Rivers Breaching High Flood Levels in SW Monsoon 2022

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(Feature Image: Hydrograph of River Godavari in extreme flood situation at Kaleswaram level forecast station in Bhupalpally district, Telangana on July 15, 2022. Source: CWC)

Highest Flood Level (HFL) breach incidents are important indicator of flood cycle and could also help in understanding the changing rainfall pattern. Though, with 925 mm rainfall[i], the south west monsoon season 2022 falls in normal category, its distribution both temporally and spatially has seen huge variations. This is also reflected by at least 57 HFL breach incidents in 8 river basin across the country during the SW Monsoon months of July-Sept 2022.

For past four years, SANDRP has been tracking the HFL breach incidents during pre-monsoon and monsoon months. The analysis of such HFL breaches in 2018[ii], 2019[iii] and 2020[iv], May-Sept 2021[v], Oct.-Nov 2021[vi] can be seen on our website. The pre-monsoon months of May and June 2022[vii] have also seen 5 HFL breach incidents. This report tracks the other HFL breach incidents taking place between July and September months.

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2022: Overview of CWC Flood Monitoring Sites in West India
CWC - Central Water Commission

2022: Overview of CWC Flood Monitoring Sites in West India

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(Feature Image: Bar chart showing CWC flood monitoring sites excluding UTs of Dadar & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu in West India in 2022)

Since 2018, SANDRP has been presenting detailed overviews on flood monitoring sites[i] of Central Water Commission (CWC) which is the only agency doing flood forecast work in India. This year, we have published and highlighted the inaccuracies in CWC’s flood monitoring sites in North[ii], North East[iii] and East[iv] zones. This fourth overview covers the West zone for Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Goa states. The previous overviews for the region can be seen here (2018[v]) and here (2019[vi]).

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Top Ten River Front Development Stories 2022: Destroying Rivers, Livelihoods
Urban Rivers

Top Ten River Front Development Stories 2022: Destroying Rivers, Livelihoods

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(Feature Image: Work on Rs. 700 crore Chambal RFD project in Kota which is supposed to be ready by Dec. 2022 end. Image Source: Free Press Journal)

The Central and various state governments have been pushing big budget River Front Developments (RFD) projects as panacea for all the urban water woes. In reality, these are River destruction projects with the objective of encroaching on river floodplain and even river beds of Urban Rivers. These RFDs have been failing to deliver on proposed claims and resulting in waste of public money apart from causing more damages to urban rivers eco-system and livelihoods of dependent communities. The projects are also multiplying the Urban Flood potential. In reality, India urgently requires an Urban River Policy as a subset of Urban Water Policy to guide how to treat urban water and urban rivers.

This compilation highlights situation of ten such RFD projects in the country which are failing miserably and facing stiff resistance from concerned citizens and dependent people during last one year or so.

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DRP NB 9 May 2022: Forensic Team report: Michigan 2020 Dams failures were preventable
DRP News Bulletin

DRP NB 9 May 2022: Forensic Team report: Michigan 2020 Dams failures were preventable

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A Forensic engineering Team appointed by the USA’s Federal Energy Regulatory Commission post the May 19, 2020 failure of Edinville and Sanford Dams in Michigan state of USA has published a 502 page comprehensive report on the dam failure within less than two years of the disaster. The full report published on May 4, 2022 is in public domain and has concluded that the dam failures were foreseeable and preventable.

There are a number of things we can learn from this. Firstly that there are such credible independent assessment of dam failures, we have none in India even after multiple dam failures each year. Secondly, such assessments are promptly in public domain. Thirdly, the reports are completed in less then two years. We have none of these. Even the Dam Safety Act passed by the parliament does not have provisions for any of these.

There are a lot of implications for India here. It means for example that we will never know the real reasons for the dam related disasters. Secondly, we won’t be able to learn any lessons. Thirdly we will never be able to improve the governance of our dams and rivers. Fourthly, we won’t be able to fix accountability.

There is so much at stake related to governance of our dams, but we seem completely unconcerned about it. There is a lot we can learn from others here.

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West Zone: In 16 months 17 children died in sand mine pits
Sand Mining

West Zone: In 16 months 17 children died in sand mine pits

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(Feature image:- 19 year old mine helper died in sand mine pit in Sone river, Sidhi in March 2022. Image source: Vindhya News.)

One of the major impacts of riverbed mining in India is deaths and injuries due to accidents and violence. In 16 months since Dec 2020 (our previous report on this issue covered the period till Nov 2020) to March 2022, at least 17 children have died in sand mine pits in West India.  

This is West India summary report for this 16 month period on sand mining violence and accidents. The detailed file for West zone can be see here. The West Zone states included here are: Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Goa. The summary reports along with detailed accounts for North, East and North East zones have already been published. The previous such report covering the issue from January 2019 to November 2020, can be seen here.

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