Dam management faces heat as flood death toll rises to 35 in Kerala

At a time when floods and landslides have claimed almost 35 lives in Kerala, opposition and environmental experts are again pointing fingers at the poor dam management citing that the state and the Centre has not learned from mistakes in 2018.

Dam management was considered as a major reason for the 2018 floods in the state that led to a loss of around Rs 50,000 crore and claimed around 483 lives. On Monday, Idukki’s member of parliament Dean Kuriakose has asked the government to empty the water in the Idukki dam, the largest dam in the state, before the onset of further rain which is expected in three to four days' time. While experts too are ringing alarm bells, state water resources minister Roshy Agustine said that the government is taking enough measures, giving advance alerts and leading evacuation, taking a cue from the 2018 experience. Red alerts were issued in at least 10 dams in the state on Monday, while the government has said that it may open the Idukki dam too soon.

Idukki and Kottayam are the worst affected districts — with 13 deaths being reported in Kottayam and nine in Idukki — owing to floods and landslide-related incidents. As on October 17, the water inflow at top 16 dams in the state was seen at 3,790.35 MU, at least 3 per cent higher than 3,682.5 MU during the same time last year. According to the Central Water Commission, Kerala has a total of around 61 dams and out of that over 30 are operated by the Kerala State Electricity Board and the rest by the irrigation department. It was alleged in 2018 that for both these departments, the priority is using water for electricity and irrigation rather than flood control.

Himanshu Thakkar, coordinator of the South Asia Network for Dams, Rivers and People, said that the governments at the centre and the state have not learned from the 2018 mistakes. “They should not wait till the last moment or red alert to release water from the dams, especially when you are aware that further rains are coming. In addition, though some data on water level in Kerala dams are available to the public, there is no accountability,” Thakkar told Business Standard. Leader of Opposition V D Satheesan too had raised questions as to why the state did not act, despite the IMD warning.

The state has received a total of 445 mm rainfall in October so far, which is around 140 per cent higher than 184 mm received during the same time last year. Heavy rainfall is expected late this week due to a fresh spell of easterly winds from the Bay of Bengal.

When asked about this, R Ramkumar, a member of the state planning board in charge of flood control, said that the state is following protocols based protocols defined by the Centre Water Commission. “We are following strict protocol for dam management. In 2018, since it was the first time, we might have had some confusion. Now, before opening dams we alert people when the water will reach the downstream and also release water in a limited way,” Ramkumar said.

"The recent floods in Kerala and Assam are yet another example of climate extreme anomalies ravaging lives and livelihoods. There has been a four-fold increase in floods and a two-fold increase in landslide events in Kerala in the recent decades. Unsustainable landscape planning in the Western Ghats has led to a 42 percent loss in wetlands and forests, among others, thereby intensifying these climate extremes,” said Abinash Mohanty, Programme Lead, Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW).