Sea Wall Embankment at Pentha, odisha - an indian experience on sea shore Protection using geotextile tubes

The coast line of the state of Odisha, which stretches for 480 km and harboring a unique array of biological and ecological diversities, has been facing the grim impacts of ever-changing behaviour of the sea; posing a great threat to the lives and livelihood of the coastal people. Paradeep - Dhamara stretch, in particular, along the Odisha coast line was ravaged twice by super cyclone in the last forty years and was also affected by the verysevere cyclones Phailin (2013) and Hud Hud (2014) in the recent past. Pentha is a severely affected sea shore village in the Paradeep - Dhamara stretch where ingress of sea is around 500 meter into the land since 1999. The existing embankment at Pentha, which had been maintained yearly by traditional means of ‘bullah piling’ and sand bags, proved totally ineffective and got washed away for a stretch of 350 meters in 2011; necessitating an effective solution that could stand the test of time and tide.

Under the aegis of Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) and consultation of Indian Institute of Technology Madras, a 505 meter long new sea wall embankment was conceptualized as a “soft” solution for shore protection at Pentha. Multi-tiered geotextile tubes form the core of the new sea wall embankment and polypropylene rope gabion boxes act as armour layer for the structure. The work was awarded to Garware-Wall Ropes Limited in 2013 and the construction was completed in June 2016. The project is envisaged as a milestone for sea shore protection in India using “soft” geo-synthetic technology. This paper gives an overview of the project, high lighting the design aspects, challenges encountered and lessons learnt from the project.