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The pristine Dirang River in Arunachal Pradesh. (Images: Shutterstock)
Studies by the agency show that average total storage loss is about 0.45 percent per year, and live and dead storage is about 0.3 percent and 0.95 percent annually.
There is an urgent need for sustainable management of sediments in the country’s reservoirs and rivers, a senior official of the Central Water Commission said Monday, adding that an estimated 34 billion cubic meters of the 258 billion cubic meters of live storage has already been lost.
CWC President Kushvinder Vohra said studies by the agency showed the average loss in total storage is about 0.45 percent per year, and live and dead storage is about 0.3 percent and 0.95 percent per year, respectively.
This leads to a huge economic loss over a period of time, he said in a statement, at the National Workshop on Integrated Sediment Management in River Basins and Reservoirs for Sustainable Development.
“It is estimated that out of the 258 BCM of live storage created in India, we have already lost about 34 BCM which will become 50 BCM by 2050. Hence, there is an urgent need for sustainable management of sediments in reservoirs and rivers,” he said, according to the statement.
During the event, presentations were given by subject matter experts on a wide range of topics such as the National Sediment Management Framework, sediment assessment studies, application of geomorphological tools to assess the morphological health of rivers among others.
The CWC has also launched eight coastal data collection stations where near-shore sediment data is monitored to work on issues related to coastal erosion.
Furthermore, the CWC supports countries with flood control and erosion control plans. The DRIP (Dam Rehabilitation and Improvement Project) includes a requirement to carry out need-based silt removal from selected reservoirs and to treat the catchment area.
Some of the works carried out under the scheme are; Silt removal of Asan Parag, Uttarakhand and watershed treatment of two dams, Kunda Reservoir and Krishnagiri Reservoir in Tamil Nadu.
Further sediment management interventions are being planned under Phases II and III of the DRIP scheme.
(This story was not edited by the News18 staff and was published from a syndicated news agency feed – PTI)
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