Dam Safety Rehabilitation - Indian Experience and Lessons Learnt

Economic sustainability of a country heavily depends on the dams in the country and with over 5700 dams, India ranks 3rd in the world in total number of large dams next to the two world's largest economies China and USA. Dams are not only a source of water for drinking, for industry and for agriculture but also save people from flooding and provide cheap source of producing electricity. A substantial proportion of Indian dams have become old. About 4180 large dams are more than 25 years old, out of which 1200 are more than 50 years old. Aging and absence of maintenance play a critical role in the safety and sustainability of the dams. Several of these ageing dams have various deficiencies as per the present structural and hydrological design standards requiring critical rehabilitation. in line with this, the Dam Rehabilitation, and improvement Project (DRiP) is among the major initiatives taken up by the government of india to effectively rehabilitate 223 existing dams in 7 States. Rehabilitation measures implemented under DRIP program have helped to improve conditions of these dams. The dams have been strengthened, ability to cater increase in design flood improved, initially observed structural defects rectified, leakages minimized, hydro-mechanical equipment renovated, access roads constructed or upgraded, surveillance systems installed, EAPs and O&M manuals prepared as per guidelines published by DRiP. As a result, the health of dams is enhanced, and risks reduced. Technology transfer and capacity building of the dam owners’ engineers are also in place. This paper discusses indian experience in dam safety rehabilitation and lessons learnt. The first phase of DRIP that successfully rehabilitated 223 dams in 7 states is planned to be closed by June 2021 and is to be followed by a new 10-year DRiP Phases ii and iii in 19 States with more than 700 dams.