DRP 240624: India to help Bangladesh conserve Teesta River

June 24, 2024February 28, 2026 SANDRPLeave a comment

The news this week that India and Bangladesh have agreed for India to help Bangladesh conserve the Teesta River that flows from India to Bangladesh. We hope this development is taken to its logical conclusion soon in terms of implementation of the project as soon as possible. This has the potential to not only two nations working together on conservation and rejuvenation of the Teesta River, but also possibly other 53 shared rivers. However, it would have been better if the W Bengal government would have been briefed, taken into confidence and involved in the discussions. History tells us that the cooperation efforts do not succeed without the involvement of all the stakeholders.

The formation of Joint Technical Committee to initiate discussions for the renewal of the Ganges Water Sharing treaty 1996 that will expire in 2026. One hopes that all these happen with a benevolent disposition from India as this has the potential of creating a much stronger bond between the two countries. A good example is the 1996 Ganga treaty that was also signed with a benevolent disposition. This move can also help strengthen the relations across South Asia as both Nepal and Bhutan are hoping to export hydro-electricity to Bangladesh via India.

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DRP News Bulletin

DRP 170624: Sardar Sarovar Power House to operate to reduce Dam Water level in anticipation of surplus rains: Welcome, but…

June 17, 2024February 28, 2026 SANDRPLeave a comment

(Feature Image: Sardar Sarovar Dam. Image Source: The Economic Times, Sept. 2022)

The news this week that SSNNL has decided to operate the 1200 MW River Bed Power House and the 250 MW Canal Head Power house to reduce the water level in Dam from 122.28 meters on June 14 to around 115 m before the monsoon inflows start, in anticipation of the above average rainfall anticipated during SW Monsoon 2024 is welcome. One hopes this is sign of SSNNL, Gujarat Government and the Narmada Control Authority have learnt some lessons after the avoidable flood disasters brought by SSP in 2023 and earlier in 2019 and 2020, as revealed by SANDRP’s analysis in each of these years.

One hopes this is not just one-off ad-hoc decisions, but part of a systemic change. This will require an integrated basin level reservoir operation policy including all the major dams of the Narmada Valley and put it out in public domain along with clearly defined Standard Operating Procedure, and names of the responsible officials for each of such major dam in the basin. The Central Water Commission will also need to be held accountable for its flood forecasting including the 7-day advance forecasts.

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DRP News Bulletin

DRP 100624: Global research suggests: shun big dams, big hydro

June 10, 2024February 28, 2026 SANDRPLeave a comment

(Feature Image: 120 Mw Vyasi HEP dam on Yamuna river in Vikas Nagar, Dehradun. SANDRP/June 2024)

Two separate reports this week shows why we need to shun big dams, big hydro. The New York Times, based on several research papers have said that unstable water cycles are making big hydropower projects unreliable. This is clear this year from a number of countries, including India, China, Canada, Turkey and Ecuador among others. The report also emphasizes the loss of biodiversity, methane emissions, submergence, among other issues plaguing the hydropower projects.

Another report quoting Stanford University study says that big reservoirs cannot meet future water storage needs and we need to go for alternative, nature-based storage options. Alternative storage options like soil moisture, aquifers and local water systems. Such storage options also provide “the critical synergy between water infrastructure, climate adaptation, and agricultural resilience.”

Both are highly eminently relevant for India. When will we start adopting such options?

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Yamuna River

Yamuna Manthan 050624: Time to review UYRB to address Delhi water crisis & save river

June 5, 2024June 5, 2024 SANDRPLeave a comment

(Feature Image: River Yamuna at Panipat on June 05, 2024. Photo by Rakesh Gautam)

In the wake of water crisis in Delhi, the Supreme Court on June 3, 2024 has directed Upper Yamuna River Board (UYRB) to convene urgent meeting on June 5, 2024 and submit status report in the court by June 6, 2024. The direction came following Delhi government claim that the state of Himachal Pradesh is ready to share surplus water with it and for that it required cooperation from Haryana government. The outcome would hopefully be known by the evening on June 5 2024.

Given the prevailing political equations among the basin states, there is uncertainty whether the board would be able to effectively resolve the issue. The UYRB suffers from some flaws in formation and functioning. The board is working in an opaque manner. Presently its website is inaccessible and meeting minutes are not in public domain. It is also reportedly crippled by shortage of staff as against originally sanctioned post of 58, it is currently functioning with just 5 officials.

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DRP News Bulletin

DRP 030624: Ecological challenges before the new govts in Sikkim & Arunachal

June 3, 2024February 28, 2026 SANDRPLeave a comment

(Feature Image: Anti dam graffiti on the wall of the civil secretariat building in Itanagar, Arunachal Pradesh in July 2022. Source: Social Media)

As the Hindustan Times Editorial today (June 3, 2024) has rightly underlined, a major challenge before the newly elected state governments in Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh is to urgently review the existing, under construction and planned mega hydropower projects in the fragile Himalayan ecology in these border states.

These states are inherently vulnerable to large kinds of disasters including landslides, earthquakes, erosion, floods, GLOFs and also multi hazard disasters. These inherent vulnerabilities are already hugely increased under climate crisis. The large hydropower projects being taken up here are acting as force multipliers for disasters in these states as recent experience including the Oct 2023 events in both states have shown.

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DRP News Bulletin

DRP 270524: Illegal Sand Mining Menace: Can Judiciary act effectively?

May 27, 2024February 28, 2026 SANDRPLeave a comment

(Mechanized mining in Yamuna river in Vikas Nagar. Image credit: Nishant Panwar, 12 May 2024)

The river sand mining stories this week makes fascinating reading. We have stories from Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh, Goa, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Punjab. The stories from first five states are related to judiciary. One story from Punjab is about collapse of a bridge due to illegal mining and another about how illegal sand mining is part of electoral narrative. The story from Madhya Pradesh is possibly most interesting and most indicative of the direction in which we need to go. In MP at a public hearing for sand mining project, the women of the villages, including sarpanch, have decided to save the river rather than allow unsustainable mining.

The stories from five states about judicial actions includes the one from Andhra Pradesh where the Supreme Court of India has warned the govt about contempt action. The apex court has set up committees of govt officials in Krishna and Guntur districts to stop illegal mechanized sand mining. The story from Rajasthan is about Supreme Court stopping sand mining in 1 km radius around Sariska Tiger Reserve. The stories from next two states is about the NGT action. Lastly, the story from Goa is about High Court action.

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DRP News Bulletin

DRP 200524: After Ten years of Namami Gange and Rs 40 000 Cr expenditure Ganga remains dirty

May 20, 2024February 28, 2026 SANDRP1 Comment

(Feature Image: Untreated effluents being discharged in Gang river through ‘Chor’ nullah in Kanpur on May 19, 2024. Image Source: Sceenshot of ABC News Media report)

The reports this week from Ganga basin rivers clearly show that after ten years of Namami Gange and NMCG (National Mission for Clean Ganga) efforts and expenditure of over Rs 40 000 Cr, there is no improvement in even river pollution, leave aside the state of river flows or state of the rivers in the Ganga basin.

In fact, there is nothing to show that even the new STPs are making any difference to the river even with respect to the limited objective of sewage treatment. As highlighted in the report below, until and unless the governance of STPs become more transparent, accountable and participatory, there is no hope for change, no matter how much money is spent, how much new STP capacity is added or what technology is used. Only a responsive, confidence inspiring governance can make a difference. But there is no interest in working in that direction from the government.

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DRP News Bulletin

DRP 130524: Unreliable Hydropower poses new challenges for India

May 13, 2024February 28, 2026 SANDRPLeave a comment

(Feature Image: NHPC’s under construction 2000 Mw Subansiri Lower Hydro Power Project. Source: PIB, June 2023)

As per this Reuters report based on official information and statements, in June 2024 India will face the biggest peak hour power shortfall in 14 years, mainly due to the slump in hydropower generation. This is the result of not only pushing hydropower projects over the decades, but also not taking any steps to optimize peaking power generation from existing hydro or doing anything worthwhile to manage peak load. India’s hydropower generation had steepest fall in four decades in the year ending on March 31 2024, which was another reason not on rely on unreliable hydropower projects. The regular and frequent disasters that we see connected with hydropower projects in almost every month and more frequently in monsoons should be another reason in this regard.

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DRP News Bulletin

DRP 060524: Study on dam induced river flooding in Peninsular India

May 6, 2024February 28, 2026 SANDRPLeave a comment

(Feature Image: (a) Locations of streamflow gauges with catchment boundaries in six major river basins of Peninsular India, (b) elevation map and mean annual maximum runoff rate (streamflow per unit catchment area), (c) Aridity Index (AI) and (d) Baseflow Index (BFI). The maps in first row are prepared in QGIS (Version 2.14.0 ‘Essen’ (2016), URL: http://qgis.org) and the maps in second row are generated using R (Version 4.2.2 (2022), URL: https://www.R-project.org/). Source: Baseflow significantly contributes to river floods in Peninsular India )

A recently published study, see details given below throws light on the role of groundwater contribution to baseflow in rivers and their flooding in Peninsular India’s river like Narmada, Tapi, Mahanadi, Godavari, Krishna and Cauvery. The found that while baseflow contributes more to river flows, its share in the flood event flow magnitude decreases as surface runoff accounts for a larger proportion of flood discharge on the day of the flood.

Most significant are the findings related to dam induced flood that SANDRP has been writing for long and the finding corroborate exactly what SANDRP has been saying: Sudden releases of water from a dam can raise river levels during extreme rainfall events, especially when the dam is nearly full. The impact of sudden floods is more destructive because people living in nearby areas are often unprepared. Without a dam, floodwaters rise slowly over time, allowing people to take preventive measures. However, sudden floods caused by dam releases offer little or no time to prepare, increasing the risks associated with dam-induced flood hazards. Furthermore, the construction of dams alters the natural regime of rivers, leading to changes in sediment transport and erosion patterns. These changes can heighten the risk of flooding downstream from a dam.

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Yamuna River

Yamuna Manthan 0524: SC Stays 4 NBWL cleared Dams in Kalesar Wildlife Sanctuary

May 2, 2024May 2, 2024 SANDRPLeave a comment

(Feature Image: Google Earth Image showing location of 6 proposed dams in Kalesar national park area by Haryana government)

In a welcome judicial intervention, the Supreme Court on April 24, 2024 has stayed building of four dams inside Kalesar National Park in Yamuna Nagar district of Haryana. Issuing notices to Centre and Haryana governments, the apex court noted that the dams namely Chikan, Kansli, Khillanwala and Ambawali would not achieve the intended purposes and would prove detrimental to wildlife, biota and eco-system of the National Park.

Disappointingly the National Board of Wildlife (NBWL) had approved the dams ignoring the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) report warning about adverse impacts of these dams on the terrestrial as well as aquatic biodiversity in the protected area. As per the WII report, the Irrigation Department, Haryana had planned building of six dams costing about Rs. 125 cr. on streams feeding Pathrala river in the national park.

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