India’s ageing dams pose great safety risks, says study
The country must conduct cost-benefit analyses of its dams and undertake safety reviews. Representational image. | Sam Panthaky/AFP
India has 4,407 large dams of which more than 1,000 would be 50 years or older by 2025, a new study has shown.
Older dams pose greater safety risks, cost higher in terms of maintenance and have declining functionality due to sedimentation, stated a
study by the Canada-based
India must conduct a cost-benefit analysis of its ageing dams, and conduct timely safety reviews in order to ensure their operational and ecological safety, as well as the safety of those who inhabit the areas downstream, experts told
India s Ageing Dams Pose A Safety Risk: Study indiaspend.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from indiaspend.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
India has 4,407 large dams of which more than 1,000 would be 50 years or older by 2025, a new study has shown. Older dams pose greater safety risks, cost higher in terms of maintenance and have declining functionality due to sedimentation, stated a study by the Canada-based United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health, released in January. Climate change is also likely to accelerate the ageing of dams, it said.
India must conduct a cost-benefit analysis of its ageing dams, and conduct timely safety reviews in order to ensure their operational and ecological safety, as well as the safety of those who inhabit the areas downstream, experts told IndiaSpend.
Is ageing Kariba Dam Wall doomed?
Sifelani Tsiko The Interview
A new study by the United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health warns that ageing dams pose a growing threat to public safety due to the potential for dam failures, over topping or leaks. Kariba Dam, a 128-metre-tall dam which stores 180 cubic kilometres of water straddling Zimbabwe and Zambia on the Zambezi River is cited as an example in the report. In this report, our Agriculture, Environment & Innovations Editor
Sifelani Tsiko (ST) speaks to the Zambezi River Authority chief executive Engineer
Munyaradzi Munodawafa (MM) on the findings of the report and how the authority is working to minimise the potential threats to human safety and the environment posed by the Kariba Dam.
Transcript
This is Eileen Wray-McCann for Circle of Blue. And this is What’s Up with Water, your “need-to-know news” of the world’s water, made possible by support from people like you.
In the United States, the Army Corps of Engineers has signed a contract with the state of Georgia, resolving a water supply issue that has long been simmering. The contract allows two suburban Atlanta counties and three cities to pull drinking water from Lake Lanier, a reservoir in northern Georgia. The Army Corps operates the reservoir, and the Associated Press says the agreement marks the first time that Gwinnett and Forsyth counties have had confirmation of their rights to Lake Lanier. Water and natural resources managers in the area praised the agreement, saying it resolves concerns over long-term water supply and solidifies the area’s right to Lake Lanier drinking water. The lake is part of a watershed that spans three river systems and is shared by Georgia, Alabama, and Florida.