Jaipur: The International Conference on Dam Safety (ICDS) was organized by the Department of Water Resources, River Development & Ganga Rejuvenation, Ministry of Jal Shakti at the Rajasthan International Centre (RIC) in Jaipur on September 14-15.
The Vice President of India, Honorable Jagdeep Dhankhar inaugurated the International Conference on Dam Safety (ICDS) 2023 with the theme “Safe & Secure Dams Ensure Nation’s Prosperity” on 14th September, 2023.
Besides VP Jagdeep Dhankhar, the inauguration was attended by Gajendra Singh Shekhawat Union Minister of Jal Shakti, GoI, Manik Saha, Chief Minister of Tripura, DK Shivakumar, Dy Chief Minister of Karnataka, Mahendrajeet Singh Malviya, Minister of Water Resources, Government of Rajasthan, Usha Sharma, Chief Secretary, Rajasthan and Pankaj Kumar, Secretary, Ministry of Jal Shakti. Ministers from Tripura, Manipur, Rajasthan, UP, Karnataka, Goa, Uttarakhand also participated in the conference.
According to Vice President Dhankhar, the ICDS 2023 was a milestone achievement in India’s history towards lasting systemic resolution on dam safety. “Safe and secure dams ensuring nation’s prosperity has great contemporary relevance. With the world in recognition of India’s prowess today, I sincerely hope that ICDS2023 will scale Himalayan heights like the G20 Summit,” opined Dhankhar.
India has 18% of global population but the country has only 2% of the world’s land and 4% of the world’s water. So it becomes our responsibility to use water optimally. Dam is one aspect of conservation of water. With only 4% of global water resources, it is commendable for India to be #3 in the number of dams, felt the Vice President. “The capacity of Bharat in big ticket performance is now earning kudos and our demographic diversity has helped do it,” he proudly proclaimed.
The National Water Mission under the Ministry of Jal Shakti collaborated with the Railways Ministry for the vinyl-wrapped Pani Ki Rail initiative. Under this initiative, Himsagar Express and Kamakhya Express were flagged off by the Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar to travel across the length and breadth of the country. The two trains acted as a moving billboard to evangelize the message of water conservation and management, river rejuvenation and the importance of potable water and improved sanitation.
Union Minister of Jal Shakti Gajendra Singh Shekhawat had an extremely pragmatic view on challenges faced in dam maintenance and operations and illustrated with both national and international examples. “We have 280 dams over 100 years old and in addition 80% of our dams are over 25 years old.” He added that in some cases the challenge is that the dam is owned by one state while the dam location is in another state. With 92% of dams in India being owned by states, this poses a serious challenge.
Pankaj Kumar Secretary Ministry of Jal Shakti took the delegates through a chronological history of dam safety and maintenance in India. In 1947 there were 300 large dams in India. Today there are more than 6000 large dams. The world has 62,000 large dams and India ranks 3rd after US and China in the number of dams.
As per the Central Water Commission, India has so far faced 42 dam disasters, the largest being the Machchu dam in Gujarat in 1979. GoI has created the national dam safety authority with both center and acts as a regulatory authority for dam safety and operation performance of dams in all 31 states
Capacity building is another critical pillar and a Center of Excellence on dam safety and maintenance has been created in IIT Roorkee. Another CoE on earthquake mechanism has been created in MNIT Jaipur. PG courses on dam safety aspects has been launched at IIT Roorkee and IISC Bengaluru
A new era of dam safety has been ushered with the enactment of the Dam Safety Act 2021. Pre and post monsoon inspection of dams has increased from 1200 to 12,000 annually after the enactment of the Dam Safety Act 2021. DRIP phase 2 and 3 is looking after maintenance of 750 dams with a budgetary outlay of Rs 10,000 crore
Various presentations were made during the plenary session starting with the sharing of Indian initiatives on Dam Safety and Management, followed by other presentations covering the topics of the Dam Safety Status of Maharashtra; Regulating Dam Safety within the Australian State of New South Wales (NSW) sharing valuable experiences from Australia; Collaboration between Denmark & India on Water Management elaborating on the various collaboration efforts between the two nations; Collaboration between Australia & India on Water Management highlighting bilateral cooperation in water management; and World Bank Initiatives on Dam Management providing insights into the World Bank’s initiatives in the field.
There was a technical session on “International & National Practices in Dam Safety Management & Governance” with presentations on Introduction to Dam Safety in USA with an overview of dam safety in the United States; NSW Dams Safety Regulation Framework with insights into the regulation framework in New South Wales; Best Practices for Dam Safety Management; Opportunities Galore for Stakeholders in compliance with the Dam Safety Act, 2021; and Dam Safety Management Practices at Tehri Dam.
“I am envious of the national approach on dam safety being taken in India,” embarked Chris Salkovic, CEO, NSW Dams, Australia. His mantra though would be standards should be outcome focused giving dam owners flexibility to explore options. NSW has been encouraging dam owners to adopt best practices in dam safety since 1978. The Board of Dams Safety NSW is the regulator for dam safety in New South Wales. He emphasized the need to establish an independent regulator.
Added Emily Roper, Minister (Counselor Policy Division), Australia High Commission in India, “We are working with India to develop a next generation of water professionals.”“Australian private companies are working in India to introduce innovative water technologies,” she added.
Saroj Kr Jha, Director of World Bank presented a more global perspective. “Governments are sitting on very high risk water asset infrastructure as the Darna case in Libya showed,” warned Jha. More than 19,000 dams in operations for more than 50 years across the world needs major rehabilitation today, was his prognosis. Inclusive value proposition, environment and social standards compliance are World Bank’s value propositions on dam safety, he asserted.
Deepak Kapoor, ACS, Department of Water, Govt of Maharashtra informed, “Every year we have been publishing Annual Health Status Report of Dams even before the Dam Safety Act was enacted in 2021. In Maharashtra, Rs 64.45 crore has been allocated for FY23-24 under DRIP to further strengthen dams. Emergency action plan for comprehensive dam safety evaluation for Maharashtra has to be completed by a deadsline of December 2026, added Kapoor.
India has a long history of water management with Cholas building Kalani Dam 200 years ago, reminded Sanjay Kr Sibal, Member, Central Water Commission.
While India has 6138 dams today, 143 dams are currently under construction, he informed. “CWC appraises DPRs of water resources and hydro power projects,” he added. Highlighting some of his achievements, he explained how Hirakud Dam, Nathpa Jhakri Hydel project, Tehri Dam and Sardar Sarovar MPP are the major contributions of CWC in water security.
The industrial session held concurrently focused on “Dam Health Assessment” and covered a range of topics including Automated Detection and Estimation of Dam Volume of Reservoirs and Dam Bodies using satellite images in Nigeria; Bridging Technology and Safety; Harnessing the Power of Geophysics for dam health assessment; Identification of Weak Zones, a case study on identifying weak zones using seismic tomography; Advancing Dam Safety through Potential Failure Mode highlighting instrumentation for dam safety; Dam Safety and Health Assessment Practices in NHPC; and Seismic Tomography at Baglihar Dam.
The second day of the conference featured technical session which focused on case studies on the Best practices on Dam Rehabilitation. The topics included Dam Rehabilitation Initiatives and Dam Safety Best Practice Note of World Bank; Underwater Pointing and Grouting of 100-Year-Old Krishnarajasagar Dam; Curtain Grouting & Cut-Off Trench along U/S Right Bank of Joshiyara Barrage; Best Practices on Dam Rehabilitation and Improvement Project; and Seepage Control Measures using Cementitious Grouting of Masonry Gravity Dams.
“World Bank plans to launch an economic feasibility study for dam security and safety,” informed Saroj Kr Jha, World Bank .“Between FY03-33,World Bank financed 433 dam projects at an investment of $67 bn,” added Felipe Vicente, World Bank. “5 Rs of storage interventions in dams include raise, rehabilitate, reoperate, retrofit and reform,” opined Satoru Ueda, World Bank.
“There are 198 ageing dam projects under DRIP with 15 of them of national importance,” asserted Saurabh Sharan, Central Water Commission. “Foundation deficiency, leaching, structural damages, cobstruction defects, earthquakes, floods, construction joins, improper maintenance cause seepage in masonry dams,” informed Sunil J Pillai, Central Water & Power Research Station.
Another Technical Session focused on “Operation, Maintenance & Emergency Management.” This session addressed critical operational and maintenance aspects covering topics on Optimizing Dam Operation & Maintenance in New South Wales; Reservoir Operational Guidance Based on Optimization Techniques; Performance Evaluation of the Operational Inflow Forecasting System for the Tehri Dam; Bridging The Emergency Management Domain with insights into AIoT technologies for dam emergency prediction, Importance of Glacial Lake Outburst Flood (GLOF) Study: A Case Study in Chenab Basin; and Dredging System for Reservoir.
“Standardization, documentation and integration with asset management system are important aspects of dam Operation and maintenance,” informed Sam Banzi, New South Wales. “The optimisation of reservoir operation is a complex multi purpose optimisation problem where balanced solutions between the often conflicting objectives are required,” added Tirumaleswara Reddy, DHI India
“International Center of Excellence for Dams can help dam owners to develop their own operational forecasting models,” informed Prof N K Goel, IIT Roorkee. “We are creating an integrated AI based approach for dam Operation. VR can be implemented for dam’s real time monitoring and operation demonstration. It is a matter of just one day to digitize one dam,” asserted Muthukumar Ramalingam, Eseidos Technology.
Another session addressed the “Risk Assessment” aspect of dam safety and risk management. The topics included Beyond Standards to a Risk Informed Approach for Dam Safety- Lessons from the United States; Integrated Risk Management; Risk Assessment framework for Indian Dams; Comprehensive Risk Assessment of Maithon Dam; Seismic Safety Assessment of Sholayar Dam Tamil Nadu; Basics of Earthquake Risk Estimation of Dams; Importance of Sensitivity Analysis in PMF Estimate of Large Catchments – A Case Study of Sardar Sarovar Project; The session highlighted the latest methodologies and insights in risk assessment, emphasizing a proactive approach to ensure the safety and integrity of dams. These presentations showcased global perspectives and innovative strategies for addressing dam safety challenges.
In the industrial session on the topic ‘Dam rehabilitation technique and material’, experts shared groundbreaking insights and advancements in dam rehabilitation. The various topics covered were Laboratory Studies for Design of Suitable Cementitious Grout Mix towards Reducing Seepage in Masonry Dams; Underwater Repair and Rehabilitation of Dam; Efficient Design and Usage of Synthetic Geomembrane For Waterproofing in dams to restore Water Tightness and increase Service Life of the structure; a Case Study on Rehabilitation of Sardar Sarovar Dam with Sika System by CWC Guidelines for Rehabilitation of Large Dams; Assessment of Repair Materials for Repairing Damaged Spillways; Some Dam Safety Aspects- Sediment and Floating Materials Management; and Keep A Close Eye on Your Dams’ Health and Safety.
“Risk management does not just consist of ‘risk assessment.’ This term is typically applied to the engineering risk assessment of physical components of a dam.” Said Shane McGrath,Board Member, Dam Safety New South Wales, Australia. “There are many old dams in India which needs investment and risk assessment is very crucial for maintenance of these large dams.” Added Abhishek Shukla, Damodar Valley Corporation
“We did Seismic safety assessment of Sholayar dam and used ground motion estimation as of one the methodology along with using predictive equations.” Informed Kavya S, Water Resource Department, Tamil Nadu “Hazard, vulnerability and exposure-these things have to be kept in mind while discussing earthquake risk to dams and its consequences.” Informed Shiv Dayal Bharti, MNIT, Jaipur “Earlier, more than 540 km transposition was carried out which made Sardar Sarovar dam unsafe hydrologically. We then studied critical storms situations.” concluded N N Rai, Director, Central Water Commission.
The Union Minister for Jal Shakti Gajendra Singh Shekhawat in his concluding valedictory session suggested key actionable points including setting up of a joint action force to take forward the Emergency Action Plans (EAPs) for dams with National Institute of Disaster Management (NIDM); creation of a compendium after analysis of the lacunae that have emerged during construction design as per the Dam Safety Reviews; chalking out a complete strategy integrating the deliberations and outcomes of the conference for its implementation. The Union Minister also recommended organising workshop to discuss the various dam Safety incidents and failures and its outcomes should be disseminated to all the dam owning agencies and other concerned stakeholders to avoid recurrence of such incidents.
“We need to give importance to dam safety in coming years especially keeping in mind the changing patterns of climate. We need to also establish a joint task force soon to look into the various aspects of dam safety.” Said Shekhawat. He added “The presence of delegates in big numbers in the valedictory session proves how seriously each and every participant has participated in this conference which will make a difference in coming time for dam safety.”
“900 delegates from various parts of the country and world over have participated in #ICDS2023 along with participation of 7 states. Pani ka Rail has been flagged off during the conference. A compilation of large dams also has been released in ICDS2023.” Proclaimed Anand Mohan, Joint Secretary, Department of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, Ministry of Jal Shakti, Government of India
“Strong governance structures are key to implementation and supervision of the activities under dam safety and regular monitoring of dams are some of the key takeaways of this conference.” He concluded.
Also Read More –
- ICDS 2023 Highlights National and Global Dam Security Initiatives
- ICDS 2023 kicks off with Pani Ki Rail flag off by Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar
- International Conference on Dam Safety (ICDS) to Focus on Dam Maintenance and Governance
