Kerala hosts two-day global meet on dam safety

NewsBharati    23-Jan-2018
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Thiruvananthapuram, Jan 23: A two-day international conference on dam safety will be held in Kerala from Jan 23. State Chief Minister P Vijayan and Union Minister of State for Water Resources Arjun Ram Meghwal will be inaugurating this meet.

This event is being organized by the Central Water Commission in association with Kerala Water Resources Department (KWRD), Kerala State Electricity Board, National Institute of Technology Calicut and College of Engineering, Trivandrum.

Dam safety conferences are organized as an annual event under the Dam Safety Rehabilitation and Improvement Project (DRIP) being run by the Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation in the seven states of Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, and Uttarakhand.

Launched in the year 2012 with a financial outlay of Rs. 2100 crore, this World Bank aided project aims at the rehabilitation of old dams in the country that may be experiencing distress and are in need of attention for ensuring their structural safety and operational efficiency.

The project also aims to strengthen the institutional capacity and project management in this area. As part of this exercise, DRIP has been engaged in bringing greater awareness on dam safety issues and finding novel solutions to address them by pooling the best technologies, knowledge and experience available around the world.

In this direction, Dam Safety Conferences are being organized as annual events in the different DRIP states. Dam professionals, academicians, scientists, as well as industries assemble to deliberate on the problems associated with the dam safety and share the concepts, techniques, instruments, materials etc. available to address the design and construction of new dams, and also for monitoring, surveillance, operation, maintenance, rehabilitation along with disaster mitigation measures for existing dams.


 

Arjun Ram Meghwal
 
The two-day conference at Thiruvananthapuram will see the participation of 550 delegates from over 20 countries. Some of the international experts include Dr Anton J Schleiss, President of the International Commission on Large Dam EPFL Switzerland, Dr Nicholos Schofield, Chief Executive of Australian Water Partnership, Satoru Ueda, Lead Dam Specialist of the World Bank, Dr Martin Wieland, global seismic expert from Switzerland, Dr Ignacio Escuder Bueno, President of Spanish Commission on Large Dams, Technical University of Valencia, Spain, Dr Desmond Harfort, leading dam safety expert, BC Hydro Canada, Angus Swindon, National Director, Entura, Hydro Tasmania, Australia.

Over 140 technical papers will be presented on several aspects of dam safety including case studies. About 30 national and international organizations are showcasing contemporary developments in technology, materials, instrumentation and their application in addressing dam safety issues during the exhibition being organized during the conference.

The themes for various sessions include Sustainable Dam Safety Initiatives; Uncertainties and Risk Management in Dams; Operation, Maintenance, Rehabilitation, and Upgrading of existing dams; Dam Safety Management Practices; and Integrated Flood Management for existing dams.

Seven dam safety guidelines and manuals developed under DRIP will also be released for implementation during the conference. A software programme - Dam Health and Rehabilitation Monitoring Application (DHARMA)- will also be launched during the conference.

DHARMA is a web tool to digitize all dam related data effectively. It will help to document authentic asset and health information pertaining to the large dams in the country, enabling appropriate actions to ensure need based rehabilitation. It is a new stride in asset management aspect by India.

Dam Safety DRIP Kerala Arjun Ram Meghwal Kerala CN P Vijayan