Securing dam safety

State governments can tap the World Bank for funds

More than 80 per cent of India’s 4,700-odd dams are over 20 years old and suffer from structural and mechanical deficiencies. They are in urgent need of repair and maintenance. The risk of dam failures in India is far greater than elsewhere because of a monsoon-driven seasonal heavy water inflow into the reservoirs. The increased frequency of weather extremes owing to climate change has added to the problem. The threat of earthquakes hangs like the sword of Damocles over many of these dams. The country has already gone through at least 18 dreadful instances of dam collapse in the past, the recent ones being those of Jamunia dam in Madhya Pradesh in 2002 and the Lawa-ka-bas dam in Rajasthan in 2003. These apart, the memories of devastation in Bihar owing to a breach in the Kosi embankment near Indo-Nepal border (at Kusha in Nepal) in 2008 are still fresh. Such disasters can be averted only if dams are well looked after, water stocks are properly monitored and regulated to keep them at safe levels, and the institutional set-ups to monitor the safety issues are suitably strengthened and updated. Most states, especially those with a large number of water reservoirs, are usually unable to earmark adequate budget for dam conservation and the associated basic dam safety facilities, such as modern instrumentation for data collection and monitoring of dam health, communication systems, backup power, access to roads and stockpiling of emergency equipment. As a result, many dams are developing structural weaknesses. Worse, many of the old dams (114 dams are over 100 years old and a sizeable number among others are over 50 years old) do not measure up to modern design standards from structural and hydrological standpoints. Thus, the bulk of the country’s total dams are in need of rehabilitation and modernisation.

Against this troubling background, it is surprising that few state governments have been enthusiastic about drawing on funds that the World Bank makes available through its Dam Rehabilitation and Improvement Project (DRIP) window. So far only four states – Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Orissa and Tamil Nadu – have sought to tap these funds. While maintaining dams is the state governments’ responsibility, few have the required funds. Why, then, are hard-pressed state governments not tapping the World Bank? The World Bank had implemented a project similar to DRIP in the past (between 1991 and 1999). The four states that tapped these funds have now come back to tap DRIP. The Dam Safety Organisation located in the Central Water Commission, a national watchdog for dam protection with largely an advisory role, must be more proactive in getting the states to focus on what could become a national problem.