Overfilled dam reservoirs create risk of flood disaster

New Delhi, June 26 (UNI) With dam reservoirs overfilled even before the proper arrival of monsoon, experts are fearing a repeat of the catastrophic floods of the last year.

As per the Central Water Commission records updated on June 16, of the 76 large reservoirs monitored by it, 41 had water filled upto more than 20 per cent of their capacity, when ideally, the storage level should be 10 per cent or less.

In case of 20 reservoirs, the water level was over a third of the reservoir storage capacity. This situation could be dangerous as it could cause floods in the monsoon, say the experts associated with the South Asia Network for Dams, Rivers and People.

The existence of so much water stored just before the onset of monsoon is, according to them, difficult to justify in most cases.

Particularly when such storages are seen in drought-prone areas like Vidarbha in Maharashtra, Gujarat and Rajasthan and also flood-prone basins like the Mahanadi.

For example, they pointed out, reservoirs like Upper Painganga (44 pc of its 964 Million Cubic Meters capacity reservoir full on June 16), Kamthi Khairi (88 pc), Upper Wardha (33 pc) and Arunawati (28 pc), are all in drought-prone Vidarbha region, where one of the reasons cited for farmer suicides is lack of adequate irrigation facilities.

The Prime Minister's much celebrated Vidarbha package is mostly constituted of additional resources for large irrigation projects in this region.

Similarly in Gujarat's drought prone north region, Kadana dam and Panam dam on Mahi River and Dharoi dam and Jakham dam on Sabarmati River had high water storages.

Ukai dam on Tapi River in South Gujarat, that caused unprecedented floods in Surat and other downstream areas last year, had 29 per cent water storage at the end of May, though the level had been brought down to 18 per cent by June 15.

Along with Ukai, floods in Sabarmati and Mahi rivers had also proved disastrous for the state.

In neighbouring Rajasthan, in Chambal basin, Gandhi Sagar had 35 pc and Rana Pratap Sagar 87 p c storage capacity full.

The Chambal basin also experienced floods last year and such high storages before monsoon could increase the risk of repetition of the disaster.

In the flood-prone Mahanadi, the Gangrel Dam (41 pc) and Hansdeo Bango (27 pc), both in Chhattisgarh and Hirakud dam (42 pc) in Orissa had unjustifiably high water storage in these big reservoirs.

This is bound to increase the possibilities of high flood damages in this basin this monsoon, say the experts.

International weather forecasts have already suggested that the western and southern India (where most of these reservoirs with high water storage are situated) are likely to have above average monsoon with some intense bouts of rain.

UNI