Article published in Madhyamam Daily 30/08/2018

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According to international safety standards, no dam is allowed to be full beyond a percentage of its total storage capacity. Not only is this essential for protecting the dam, it also acts as a small but crucial buffer - a space for safety in the event of a cloudburst or other unexpected events, and a provision to store extra water during heavy rain and floods, to let the water off later in a controlled way after the floods are over.  Further, some of the dams in Kerala fall under seismically active zones! It is imperative that no dam should be kept above 90 to 92% of its full capacity at any time.

 

In contrast, filling up the dam completely to the brim, with no buffer space and no foresight whatsoever; and simply releasing all the waters into already flooded rivers when the dam cannot hold any more, or even on the verge of dam failure - this happens to be currently the norm not only in Kerala but also the whole of India!

 

Proper management of dams during floods is the easiest preventable part of the calamity. Hence this part should never be neglected.

 

 

News item in The Hindu on 01/09/2018:

 

 

If you are of the opinion that we need better safety standards for dams in India, please sign the author's petition.

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Page last edited on 29/09/18

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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