17 Feb

Dam Safety

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Contents

• Introduction
• Key concerns associated with Dam Safety in India
• Institutional Framework/Programs/Schemes dealing with dam safety in India
• Dam Safety Act, 2021
• Analysis of the act : Key challenges/Limitations

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Introduction

• Dams are playing a very important role in the development of India. They not only supply water for irrigation, but also contribute in flood control and Energy generation (around 17% of India’s total electricity).
• In terms of number of Dams, India stands third in the world with more than 6,000 large dams in operation and another 400+ large dams under construction. Further, India has thousands of medium and small dams.
• However, a poorly maintained and ill-operated dam can become a source of threat not only for human life and infrastructure, but also for the environment. Therefore, there has been a long felt need of a uniform law and administrative structure in the country for the purpose of dam safety.

Key concerns associated with Dam Safety in India

• Very Old Dams – around 4% (227) of large dams are more than 100 years old and 80% are more than 25 years old.
• Many of these dams are located in earthquake prone zones.
• India has faced 36 major dam failure in the past, the worst one of Machchhu Dam (Gujarat) in 1979 in which about 2000 people had died.
• There are varying degree of inadequacies in meeting the current standards of dam health and safety.
  • Poor Implementation of the existing safety provisions
  • A report by CAG has found that
    • The structural strength of 348 large dams are suspect and they have not been inspected for over a decade.
  • Similarly, the world bank report on Dam Rehabilitation and Improvement Project (DRIP) indicates that the implementation of the program has been moderately unsatisfactorily.

Institutional Framework/Programs/Schemes dealing with dam safety in India

• The Central Water Commission, Ministry of Jal Shakti through the National Committee on Dam Safety (NCDS), NDSO, SDSCO etc has been making constant endeavours in the direction of Dam Safety.
• Dam Rehabilitation and Improvement Project (DRIP) is being implemented by Ministry of Jal Shakti with assistance from World Bank.
  • The main objectives of DRIP are:
    a. To improve the safety performance of selected existing dams (223 dams across 7 states) in a sustainable manner
    b. To strengthen the dam safety institutional set up in participating states as well as at central level.
  • The seven DRIP states are – Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Odisha, Karnataka, Kerala and TN.
• The Dam Health & Rehabilitation Monitoring Application (DHARMA)
  • It is a webtool/app which is focused on digitizing dam related data effectively. It will help in easy identification of vulnerable dams and ensure need based rehabilitation.
• Ministry of Power and DRDO have signed an MoU for vulnerable Hydro Projects/ Power Stations in Hilly Areas
  • Under this they would work jointly together towards developing suitable mitigation measures against avalanches, landslides, glaciers, glacial lakes, and other geo-hazards
  • For vulnerable projects in hilly areas, expertise of DRDO will be used for developing comprehensive EWS.

Dam Safety Act, 2021

• The act is aimed at helping states and UTs to adopt uniform safety procedure and thus ensure safety of the dams. It also gives statutory backing to various dam safety institutions and provides for strict punishment in case of the violation of the law.
• It provides for surveillance, inspection, and maintenance of all specified dams across the country.
  • These dams are with height more than 15 meters, or height between 10 meters to 15 meters but with certain design and structural principle.
  • The act establishes a robust Institutional Framework for Dam Safety:
    • It sets up two national bodies
      i. The National Committee on DAM SAFETY which would evolve policies and recommend regulations regarding dam safety.
      ii. The National Dam Safety Authority which would implement policies of the National Committee, provide technical assistance to State Dam Safety
      Organizations (SDSO) and resolve matters (dispute resolution) between SDSOs of states or between SDSOs and Dam Owners.
• The law also sets up two state bodies

i. State Committee on Dam Safety which will review work of SDSO, order Dam Safety Investigation, recommend dam safety measures and review the progress of such
measures.
ii. State Dam Safety Organization (SDSO) will be responsible for surveillance, inspection, monitoring, operation, maintenance and investigation of dams.

• Jurisdiction over dams
  • All specified dams will fall under jurisdiction of the SDSO of the state in which dam is situated.
  • For dams owned by CPSU or which extends in two or more states or when a dam owned by one state is situated in other state, NDSA will have the jurisdiction and will play the role of SDSO.

What are states required to do?

• Provisions require states to classify dams based on hazard risk, conduct regular inspections, create emergency action plan, institute emergency flood warning systems, undertake safety reviews and period risk assessment studies.
• Duties and Functions of DAM owners ( sufficient funds, trained manpower, dam safety units to conduct regular inspections, mandatory presence of engineers during floods and emergency, install emergency flood warning system; carry out risk assessment at regular intervals)
• Comprehensive DAM Safety Evaluation (CSE)
  • The act provides for comprehensive safety evaluation by independent panel of experts at regular intervals.
• Offences and Penalties for violation of provisions

Analysis of the act : Key challenges/Limitations

• Jurisdiction of Parliament on the issue (Entry 17 of the State List read with Entry 56 of the Union List, gives powers to state to make laws on water supply, irrigation and canals, drainage and embankments, storage etc for intra state rivers) .
• The functions of the NCDS, NDSA, SCDS are listed in the schedule of the act which can be modified by government through notification. Experts have raised concerns over this kind of overwhelming powers with central government.
• States Raising Concerns regarding NDSA having jurisdiction over dams owned by one state but situated in others. Some states feel that this takes away rights of states over their dams.
  • Note: TN own dams in the state of Kerala (in Mullaperiyar, Parambikulam, Tunakadavu, and Peruvaripallam)
• States lack technical capability to really implement the act in terms of number of trained personnel’s, engineers etc.
  • The Sikkim GLOF reveals poor compliance at all levels of dam safety, from the dam’s design to the spillway capacity.
• Environment Impact ignored
  • The act does not contain any norms which relates to environmental impact in the upstream and downstream of the rivers.
• Lack of focus on operational safety (like rate of filling or rate of water release) could lead to continuance of cases of Dam induced floods (e.g. Kerala floods, 2018)

Other problems related to Dam

• Lack of coordination between states leads to faulty management of dams.
  • For e.g., the recent floods in Odisha was caused by faulty management of Hirakud Dam. One of the reasons for it was lack of information from Chhattisgarh to Odisha regarding the flow of water.

Way forward

• Set up the institutional framework envisaged under the law
  • Dam Safety Policy should be finalized quickly to act as a guiding principle towards protection of Dams.
• Promote More transparency:
  • Dam Safety is a public purpose and thus everything about dame safety, functions of institutions, their reports, decision minutes and agendas, everything should be promptly available to public.
• Human Resource development:
  • We will need huge human resource for ensuring that trained people man dams, engineers are available for inspection and monitoring, emergency action plan etc.
• Land use plans should have dam safety issues integrated in it.
• Operational Safety and Environment Impact needs to be better integrated in the act and any future policies.
• Increased coordination between states:
  • E.g. of the United States web-based integrated risk management tool called Dam Sector Analysis tool. The tool was developed using variables from dam failure models and decision support systems, which enables the software to project downstream risk in the case of a dam failure.

Conclusion:

• India’s first prime minister, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, had referred to dams as the ‘temples of modern India’. These temples would remain a boon, only if all the stakeholders work towards eliminating risks associated with Dam Safety.

Example Questions:

• Discuss the key provisions of the Dam Safety Act 2021. How far does it go in ensuring structural and operational safety of dams [12.5 marks, 200 words]
• What are the key concerns related to Dam Safety in India? How far will the Dam Safety Act, 2021 be able to resolve these concerns? [10 marks, 150 words]