Dams, Barrages and Reservoirs

The study attempts to determine the useful life of the Bargi reservoir and assesses the sedimentation rate in it using satellite data. Periodical surveys are essential to provide a correct understanding of the sedimentation process going on in a reservoir, so that remedial measures can be undertaken well in advance and reservoir operation schedule planned for optimum utilization of water.

In this study, a model has been developed considering surface flow component and subsurface flow component along with the evapotranspiration from the crop as the sink term for the Lokapavani area of KR Sagar command of Karnataka. The surface flow component is represented using one-dimensional St-Venant equations and the subsurface flow component is represented using one-dimensional Richards equation with the sink term for the evapotranspiration from crop.

In the present study, two different Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) were developed for Dharoi reservoir, Gujarat, one for flood control operation and another for conservation operation. In recent years, ANNs are increasingly being used to predict water resources variables particularly in the operation of reservoirs, the most important elements of complex water resources systems, constructed for spatial and temporal distribution of water.

The study attempts to explain flood wave propagation in natural and artificial channels within the perspective of site-specific rating curve. The study looks at the impacts of channel characteristics – bed slope, flood plains, channel shape, expansion-contraction combination, inactive storage, Manning’s roughness, expansion and contraction on flood wave propagation.

The study estimates the average contribution of snow and glacier melt runoff in the annual flow of Satluj river at Bhakra dam. This study is restricted to the Indian part of Satluj basin. A water balance approach was used to determine the average snow and glacier contribution to the annual flows.

The study assesses sedimentation rate, water spread area and volume of the Bhakra reservoir in Satluj basin using remote sensing data of IRS-1B satellite and LISS-II sensor data of the years 1988-89 and 1996-97. The original elevation-area capacity curves and the reservoir levels on the eight dates of pass of the satellite were obtained from the Bhakra Beas Management Board, Nangal.

Using the trapezoidal formula, the capacity in between the maximum (513.904 m) and minimum (450.436 m) observed levels was assessed for the year 1996-97. The loss of capacity till 1988-89 was 491.315 mcum and till 1996-97 was 807.354 mcum. These could be attributed to the sediment deposition in the zone of study of reservoir.

Article Courtesy: Association for India's Development

Honorable Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh,

We, the undersigned, are writing this letter to ensure that the farmers and tribals displaced by the Sardar Sarovar and Maheswar dams are satisfactorly resettled and rehabilitated and that there is full compliance with environmental safeguards, before any permission is given for further construction work on these dams.

We deeply appreciate the fact that the Central Government has recently ordered suspension of work on the Maheshwar dam since the oustees are not resettled and rehabilitated, as per the requirements of the environmental clearance dated 01.05.2001. While over 80% of the construction work of the Maheshwar dam has been completed a mere 5% of the 70,000 oustees have been rehabilitated.

Ariticle Courtesy: National Alliance of Peoples' Movements

Dear Saaathis,

You all must have got the word by now ...Narmada is in serious crisis ...Not just the people and the environemnt, but the very project itself today...And unjust politics is also at its peak again ...This is the last and critical leg of the SSP battle...

Thousands of us are to embark on an indefinite mass action of Narmada from April 11th and sit before the Narmada Control Authority from the 13th at Indore. The situation is very serious and highly politicized, since even as there are 2 lakh adiavasis, farmers, fish workers, labourers yet to be rehabilitated in the submergence area, only corruption has increased ten-fold and gross environmental non-compliance has been exposed by the latest Devender Pandey Committee.

BARRAGES AS A BETTER ALTERNATIVE  TO POLAVARAM DAM  POJECT

(Replies to Discussion Report of Advisory Committee on alternate proposals made for

Polavaram project by Sri.T.Hanumantha Rao, former Engineer-in-Chief, AP State)

The book "Aaviral Ganga" explores the question of what is a dam, and of what the river Ganga means to us, and the impact of dams in the Ganga river valley”

The book "Dole mein Pole" is a case study of Srinagar Hydro Electric Project, on River Alaknanda(the main tributary of Ganga) how the 200 MW dam clearance was converted into 330 MW. There was no public hearing, no extra study, no monitoring, no compliance etc.