Hyderabad: Telangana has mooted real-time monitoring of rainfall and creation of advanced modelling and forecasting systems to improve flood forecasting and create gate operation protocols for dams on the Godavari and Krishna rivers.
At a meeting of the State Dam Safety Organisation on Wednesday, officials proposed a committee comprising irrigation chief engineers from Telangana, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh to take the idea forward. It also said that required studies could be carried out by IIT Hyderabad or IIT Roorkee.
Gate operation protocols play a vital role in dam safety, especially during floods in rivers on which the dams are built, and if faulty or incorrect protocols are followed, can result in serious damage to structures. One of the many reasons that damages occurred to the Medigadda barrage of the Kaleshwaram project in Telangana, is believed to be absence of comprehensive flood forecasting and flood data and improper gate operation protocols.
The SDSO meeting also discussed a study report on Gundlavadu dam in Khammam district which, the study found, needs to be rebuilt from the ground up. A study by the former director general of the Geological Survey of India M Raju found that the long-pending problems at the small dam, which serves an ayacut of around 3,000 acres in Wazeedu mandal of Khammam district, can only be solved if it is built afresh.
A new dam can be built after the foundation, and hydrological issues, among others, are studied. The new structure can be built to replace the dilapidated and ruined dam structure. For many years, farmers in the area have been complaining that even during flood seasons when the dam is filled up, the water disappears leaving nothing for those dependent on it for irrigation.
