Posted by
Susan Sharma
on
January 23, 2008
Dams Coming Down
Two years of closed-door negotiations between farmers, Indian tribes, fishermen, conservation groups and government agencies have resulted in an unprecedented (but very conditional) agreement
to remove four hydroelectric dams now operating along an embattled 300-mile stretch of the Klamath River in southern Oregon and northern California. The goal of the dam removal is to restore runs of the now-endangered salmon that were once plentiful in the
region and to re-assign contentious water usage rights throughout the region accordingly..............
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Though it was once the third-most productive salmon river on the West Coast, the Klamath has suffered over the last several decades as a result of misguided hatchery practices, overfishing,
development and the loss of habitat to dams, mining and logging. For the dams to actually be removed, the federal government would have to approve the dam removal plan (and put up the estimated $400 million to cover costs). Then, if dam owner PacifiCorp (a
major regional utility) is willing to go along with the plan, the dams could be removed as soon as 2015.
Source:
http://www.emagazine.com/view/?4054
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Posted by
Susan Sharma
on
October 03, 2007
Three years after the Central government virtually abandoned the mega project of inter-linking of rivers, the government of Bihar is coming out with a proposal to link various river basins within the state.
Gujarat, too, is toying with a similar idea. What’s more, Tamil Nadu chief minister M Karunanidhi recently said that the linking of the southern rivers — Godavari, Krishna and Cauvery — could be taken up immediately...............
Satish C Jha, chairman, special task force on Bihar and a member of PM’s Economic Advisory Council, told SundayET that a better understanding with Nepal was key to control flood in the state and also evolve a better system of irrigation................
Former head of the task force on inter-linking of rivers Suresh Prabhu argued that it should be a two-way approach. “What Bihar is doing now is a bottom-up approach. We need that too. Inter-linking of rivers should be done in an intergrated manner involving
both augmentation and conservation,” said Mr Prabhu.
Source :
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Bihar_takes_lead_in_reviving_river_inter-linking_project/articleshow/2094715.cms
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Posted by
Susan Sharma
on
September 23, 2007
Linking of Godavari, Krishna and Cauvery could be taken up
Linking of Godavari, Krishna and Cauvery could be taken up immediately, The Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Karunanidhi told "The Hindu".
Apart from being a water scarce state, Tamil Nadu suffered from acute ground water deficiency.
The National Water Development Agency had already completed a study of the peninsular component of interlinking rivers of India. Since the study had concluded that it was technically possible and economically viable to transfer water from surplus river
basins to deficient ones, it was time that the next step was taken towards interlinking, the CM said.
The Chief Minister wanted the project of interlinking peninsular rivers included and funded as part of the agriculture strategy for the 11th plan.
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Posted by
Susan Sharma
on
August 17, 2007
Judge declares river dried up by diversion to LA revived
The city of Los Angeles has sufficiently restored
a stretch of river along the Sierra Nevada it siphoned off decades ago
by aqueduct and no longer has to pay fines of $5,000 a day, a judge
ruled Wednesday.
Inyo County Superior Court Judge Lee Cooper said the city has revived
a 62-mile section of the lower Owens River that was left essentially
dry in 1913 when its flows were diverted to the Los Angeles Aqueduct.
"I can now officially declare that the lower Owens River is a river,"
Cooper said.
Water was directed back to the riverbed in December, marking a
concession in an infamous water war between Los Angeles and the valley
200 miles north of the city.
Ecologists said the revived river was making a remarkable recovery and
reported seeing birds, fish, and plants in the channel.
The judge had imposed the $5,000 fine per day in July 2005 when he
grew frustrated by the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power’s
long-delayed plan to restore the river.
During a hearing Wednesday, Cooper also approved an agreement between
the DWP, Inyo County officials, residents and environmentalists that
spells out requirements for the city to keep the water flowing. The
judge warned he would impose fines under the deal if the city didn’t
meet its obligations.
"The restoration of the river has been a long-term goal of Inyo County
and we are heartened that river’s recovery is well under way," Jim
Bilyeu, chairman of the county’s board of supervisors, said in a
statement.
Source: U.S. Water News Online, July 2007
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Posted by
Susan Sharma
on
May 25, 2007
CSE invites you to a two-day media briefing workshop to understand the condition of India’s rivers, examine existing river cleaning programmes, learn from them, and discuss strategies that could bring our rivers back to life. The
Yamuna river will be taken as a representative case. The workshop will bring together river pollution experts, civil society representatives and government officials to debate and demystify key issues.
Date: June 14-15, 2007
Venue: India Habitat Centre, New Delhi
Eligibility criteria:
- The workshop is only open to journalists and media professionals
- Seats are limited. We have the resources to support the travel and accommodation of a few candidates on a first-come, first-served basis. Therefore, please apply immediately
To apply, e-mail/fax your resume to:
Shachi Chaturvedi <shachi@cseindia.org>
Fax: 011-29955879
Last date for applying: June 1, 2007
For more information >>
http://www.cseindia.org/programme/media/yamuna_workshop.htm
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Posted by
Susan Sharma
on
March 09, 2007
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Posted by
Susan Sharma
on
November 25, 2006
The Kerala and Tamil Nadu governments are at loggerheads over the 100-year-old Mullaperiyar Dam in Kerala's Idukki district.
Tamil Nadu wants the water level in the dam raised to route more water to five of its southern districts, a demand upheld by the Supreme Court. But Kerala says, the aging dam cannot withstand the pressure and invited a Navy diving team to check the dam's
structural integrity. But the decision has angered Tamil Nadu .
Tamil Nadu plans to increase the height of the dam from the present 136 metre to 142. It also wants to raise the height of an associated dam to 152 metre. However, Kerala says that the dam is too old and can't stand any more pressure.
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Posted by
Susan Sharma
on
October 17, 2006
"Yury Trutnev, Russia's natural resources minister said, Russia is still in two minds about whether to revive a controversial Soviet-era plan to divert Siberian rivers to the arid Central Asia." (MOSCOW, October 12 RIA Novosti)
European Union directive defines every water catchment area as a distinct management unit and rules out water transfers from one area to another. On the 18th of June, 2004 Spain repealed the project to divert water from the river basin, that had been included
in the Hydrological Plan pushed forward by the previous Popular Party government and justified by the lack of water in some areas of Spain.
In China, Three Gorges Dam Project is about to be complete. After the rise in water level, the estimate of displaced may cros 1.4 Million People.
Courtesy WaterWatch@yahoogroups.com
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Posted by
Susan Sharma
on
September 09, 2006
Ramaswamy Iyer, former chief secretary in the water resources ministry said that there is an inherent conflict of the flood control objective with the other objective of trying to maximize hydro-power and irrigation in dams.
Iyer said while flood control demands that dams allow adequate space to receive flood flows, the objective of maximizing hydro-power potential means that water level in dams is kept as high as possible.
''As there is greater pressure to increase power generation, the objective of flood control gets lesser attention. This can lead to a situation when water has to be released suddenly on a large scale leading to disastrous flash floods,'' he said. Iyer added
that the changing pattern of monsoon has put the last nail in the coffin of that fraudulent Interlinking of Rivers proposal, as those basins identified as "deficit" by National water development Authority have witnessed floods while those that have been marked
as "surplus" have shown shortfall."
( Quoted in a meeting on flash floods and dams organized by Intercultural resources in collaboration with South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers and People )
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Posted by
Susan Sharma
on
August 31, 2006
"Almost every year, floods ravage various states. According to news reports in most of the cases, the flood disaster has been caused by panic release of water from dams since inflow to the reservoir was very high. Maharashtra and Gujarat, both hit by floods
this year, together have more than half of the country's 4,500 large dams, so it is a moot point whether dams provide protection from flood.
Flood, a natural phenomenon, becomes a disaster when large quantities of water arrive very quickly or do not recede quickly. Rainwater comes too quickly either because of unprecedented rainfall and/or due to deforestation that causes very fast arrival of water
in the main rivers. A large dam can "control" flood only if the reservoir has sufficient empty capacity to absorb the sudden arrival of water. But in practice, reservoirs are never emptied in anticipation of flood because water from the reservoir is required
for irrigation or power generation. (If it is a low rainfall year
and the reservoir is empty, the flow will merely fill the reservoir and the downstream river will get no water at all). When the flood does arrive, the sluices are opened to save the dam and people, assured of protection from flood, who have occupied the flood
plain below the dam, suffer because of the sudden release of water from the reservoir.
Thus, while large dams may offer flood management advantages in a limited temporal or spatial context, they also create larger magnitude problems that are not generally recognized. Flood management and the performance of India's large dams for flood "control",
irrigation and power generation over the past few decades needs urgent and transparent review."
-Maj Gen S.G.Vombatkere (Retd) is a military engineer holding a PhD in Structural Engineering from I.I.T., Madras.
E-mail: sgvombatkere@hotmail. com
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