Can Solar pumps threaten groundwater sustainability? The answer is yes. Without integrated water and energy governance India’s solar irrigation drive may worsen environmental stress, say experts. Along with the energy benefits, there are invisible consequences of solar pumps – excess water extraction and energy going waste.
Continue reading “Dams, Rivers & People-June 23 2025: Solar pumps threatening Groundwater Sustainability?”Tag: Monsoon
DRP 16 June 2025: “Indus River older than its landscape, Himalayas”
INDUS RIVER: Stephen Alter, in his article “With the River by My Side” says about Indus River that some rivers are older than the landscape through which they pass: “Nowhere is this clash between hydrological and geological history more apparent than along the Indus, as it passed through Ladakh. This seemingly eternal river has followed its winding course since long before the Himalaya were formed, tossing and tumbling over. Boulders, stones and pebbles that the water polishes and grinds into sand. Eroded flanks of the mountains on either side of the river are scarred and twisted by tectonic forces that lifted giant slabs of rock more than eight kilometres into the clouds but failed to block the persistent flow of the Indus. Driving along the highway that runs parallel to the river, from Leh to Kargil, it feels as if the landscape is a timeless epic that the waters of the Indus have etched in stone.”
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DRP 020625
HYDRO POWER PROJECTS
Jammu & Kashmir In Kupwara district the 12 Mw Karnah in Kishan Ganga sub basin has joined the long list of HEP projects facing reoccurring damages, repeated delays and cost escalation in Himalayan states. The flash flood, landslides and cloudburst disasters in Feb and May 2025 have further damaged the project and extended its completion date.
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DRP NB 260525: Opposition to large hydro as strategic projects
(Feature Image: Lahaul Spiti Ekta manch holds a protest rally against hydel projects at Udaipur in Lahaul Spiti on Friday May 23. Source: The Tribune)
Some of the most prominent reports this week are related to wide spread opposition to large hydro projects in Arunachal Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, among other states. Indeed, there is little sense in building large hydro projects as strategic assets as seems to be the case in Himachal Pradesh and J&K (Chenab basin) and Arunachal Pradesh (Siang basin, among others). Use of security forces to complete pre-feasibility survey when local communities are strongly against the project, as is being done in case of Siang Upper Multipurpose Project is clearly counter-productive in so many ways. In Kerala people have again gathered to oppose the destructive Athirapally Hydro projects that they have been successfully opposing since late 1990s.
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DRP NB 190525: Kaleshwaram Project to be abandoned?
(Feature Image: Medigadda barrage, part of the Kaleshwaram project, facing structural challenges due to design flaws. DC: File Photo)
One of the alarming news this week is the recommendation of irrigation experts and others to the Telangana govt is to prioritise Tummidihatti project, rather than spending limited available resources on repair of Kaleshwaram barrages: Medigadda, Annaram and Sundilla, all part of the controversial and disaster hit Kaleshwaram Project. The reasoning behind the recommendation seems to be apparent difficulty to rehabilitation of the barrages with inherent unstable foundation on sand beds.
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CWC, IMD Need to Improve Extreme Weather Forecast Services
The rising numbers and intensity of western disturbances (WDs) in pre-monsoon months are causing excessive but short rainfall spells across the country particularly in the Himalayan states. These events are then resulting in sudden flash floods and taking a huge toll on human life and public infrastructure. However, the specific monitoring and warning services for such disasters by the Central Water Commission (CWC) & Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) are largely unavailable as these agencies are mainly forecasting floods during the monsoon.
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DRP NB 120525: BBMB’s poor track record on Operational Dam Safety
(Feature Image: 2019 image of Bhakra dam. Source: Punjab Kesari)
One aspect that stands out not so obviously in the ongoing water dispute between Punjab and Haryana is the poor track record of BBMB in achieving operational safety of BBMB projects during floods, particularly in recent years, but also starting from way back in 1970s. That is why it sounds strange when in early May, BBMB is talking about need for water releases to safeguard the Bhakra dam’s structural integrity, when the dam is at its lowest level in the season. We see no such urgency or public statements by BBMB during the monsoons last few years when not only IMD had forecast heavy rainfall in the catchment, but also there was no action by BBMB even when catchments had already received heavy rainfall.
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DRP NB 050525: Dam Safety concerns at Srisailam and Nagarjunsagar Dams
(Feature Image: Alarming situation at Srisailam Dam, says Telangana; Warns NDSA of potential catastrophe. Source: Telangana Today, Feb. 2025)
The visit of chairman of National Dam Safety Authority (NDSA) to Srisailam and Nagarjunsagar dams on Krishna River belonging to Andhra Pradesh and Telangana has brought out very worrying reports. These are two of the largest dams in India. This is symptomatic of the situation of dam safety across the country.
Srisailam dam was damaged during unprecedented floods in first week of Oct 2009 with washing away large amount of cement concrete from the apron and plunge-pool of the dam, but the repair work has still not been taken up even though there is risk to the stability of the dam. The discussion is still about source of funds and NDSA chairman has asked AP to initiate some work using AP’s own funds and get the expenses reimbursed afterwards. This is a hardly confidence inspiring situation. Any mishap on this project can start a chair reaction that can engulf all projects right upto Krishna barrage at Vijaywada.
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DRP NB 280425: Why did the Jal Shakti Ministry delay submission of NDSA Expert Committee report on Kaleshwaram to Telangana?
(Feature Image: Medigadda barrage of KLIS. Source: South First)
The National Dam Safety Authority (NDSA) expert committee report under chairman Shri J Chandrashekhar Iyer on the controversial Kaleshwaram project has at long last been submitted this last week to the Telangana govt vide DO letter dated April 24, 2025, from Shri Anil Jain, NDSA chairman. One of the intriguing aspects of this episode is that the NDSA expert committee submitted the report to the Ministry of Jal Shakti in December 2024 and it has taken almost four months for the report to be submitted to the executing authority, the Telangana Govt. Why should it take any time at all for the NDSA expert committee report to reach the state government, leave aside the 4 months it has taken.
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DRP NB 210425: Farakka Dam operation completes 50 years: A time to review?
(Feature Image: Infographic taken from Farakka now boomerangs on India: Source: TBS News, Oct. 2019)
The 2304 m long Farakka dam on Ganga in Murshidabad district in W Bengal was commissioned on Apr 21 1975 and completes 50 years today. The dam needs an independent review to assess the costs, benefits and impacts of the dam, both projected and actual and to decide about the need and form of its continued existence.
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SANDRP 