26-Jul-2021: Designs Changes by CWC of Polavaram Head Works
Implementation of Polavaram Irrigation Project, including the planning and design of its various components, is being done by the Government of Andhra Pradesh (GoAP). However, approval/ vetting of the designs is being done by Central Water Commission (CWC), to reaffirm their conformity with the relevant codal provisions, as well as with the provisions of Godavari Water Dispute Tribunal Award, 1980.
As informed by GoAP, vetting by CWC has led to changes in design of some components of the project, including height of the upstream and downstream coffer dams, depth of foundations, grades of concrete of spillway in deep blocks, diaphragm wall cutoff for the left side of upstream coffer Dam, chipping in gate grooves, stop log gates grooves, second stage concreting in spillway, etc.
Government of India is providing 100% reimbursement of the remaining cost of the irrigation component of the project for the period starting from 01.04.2014, to the extent of the cost of the irrigation component on that date.
GoAP has confirmed the same.
20-Jan-2021: MoS Jal Shakti chairs a review meeting of Central Water Commission
The Minister of State (Jal Shakti) reviewed the progress under various programmes namely, PMKSY and DRIP. He was informed that during the last one and a half year, 10 projects out of 99 priority projects under PMKSY have been completed. He was also informed that the Cabinet has approved DRIP II & III scheme with an outlay of about Rs. 10,000 crores out of which 7,000 crores will be funded by the World Bank and AIIB. He was also informed that under DRIP – I, rehabilitation of 223 dams located in 7 States has been done with an estimated cost of Rs. 3466 crores. Mr. Kataria lauded the role of Central Water Commission in operating this programme.
He was further informed that there will be better water management by formation of river basin organizations. He was worried about the increasing water conflicts in the country. CWC Officials informed that with the passage of ISWRD Amendment Bill, the water conflicts will be solved more quickly. CWC Officials also informed that the passage of ISWRD Bill and Dam Safety Bill is very much necessary for a holistic management of water resources in the country.
Mr. Kataria was informed that 79 new Flood Forecasting stations have been made operational in the last one year. As a result, 11,721 forecasts were issued in the year 2020 from 328 forecasting stations set up across 19 river basins. A newly upgraded Flood Forecasts Website and Flood Data entry utility started with effect from May 2020 - https://ffs.tamcnhp.com
During the discussion over flood forecasting and management, an issue pertaining to flooding caused by Brahmaputra river was discussed. The CWC officials apprised about the need for setting up a project at Upper Siang/Brahmaputra which shall be highly beneficial for the state of Assam. Regarding alleged Plan of China to set up a super hydropower station at Brahmaputra at Mêdog, Tibet, the officials apprised that any attempt to divert water of Brahmaputra river shall act as an encroachment on the entitled rights of lower riparian states like India, Bangladesh and adversely affect the availability of water in the Brahmaputra basin during the lean season. However, there are official platforms - like the Expert Level Mechanism set up between India and China in the year 2006 to discuss various issues related to trans-border rivers.
18-Jun-2018: Government to team up with Google for flood forecasting
Central Water Commission (CWC), India’s apex technical organization in the field of Water Resources, has entered into a Collaboration Agreement with Google to bring in effective flood management in India. CWC would use state-of-the-art advances made by Google in the in the field of Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning and geo spatial mapping for effective management of water resources particularly in the field of flood forecasting and dissemination of flood related information to the masses widely using the dissemination platforms developed by Google. This initiative is likely to help crisis management agencies to deal extreme hydrological events in a better manner.
Under this Agreement, CWC and Google will share technical expertise in the fields of artificial intelligence, machine learning, geospatial mapping and analysis of hydrological observation data to collaborate on (i) improving flood prediction systems, which will help provide location-targeted, actionable flood warnings, (ii) high priority research project utilizing Google Earth Engine to help visualize and improve flood management and (iii) a cultural project to build online exhibitions on the Rivers of India.
The Ministry had earlier launched an ambitious programme ‘National Hydrology Project’ (NHP) during the year 2016-17. NHP is a World Bank assisted central sector scheme with pan India coverage. The objective of National Hydrology Project is to improve the extent, quality, and accessibility of water resources information, decision support system for floods and basin level resource assessment/planning and to strengthen the capacity of targeted water resources professionals and management institutions in India.
The initiative on flood forecasting is likely to meet the much awaited demand of the inhabitants of the flood prone areas for inundation warnings with sufficient lead time. Till 2016, CWC was disseminating flood levels with maximum lead time of one day. During the flood season of 2017, CWC resorted to rainfall based modelling and issued flood advisories on trial basis with 3 days lead time.
Under collaborative arrangement, Google would use high resolution Digital Elevation Model and vast computational resources and its expertise in the field of Artificial Intelligence to generate flood inundation maps utilising the level forecast input provided by CWC. The information in the form of likely extent and depth of inundation would be disseminated with a lead time of up to 3 days. For the flood season of 2018, inundation forecasting would be done on trial basis and the same would be up scaled in near future. The collaborative arrangement is likely to result in saving of crore of rupees which otherwise would have to be spent by the government on acquiring high resolution DEM, high end computational resources and developing dissemination platforms widely used by the masses. This would enable the Government as well as disaster management organisations to identify well in advance the locations and population, which are at risk from floods and require warnings and information. This collaborative initiative is expected to be a milestone in flood management and in mitigating the flood losses.
5-Jan-2018: Central Water Commission Receives CBIP Special Recognition Award 2018 for Excellence in Health & Safety of Large Dams
In recognition of the contribution made by the Central Water Commission (CWC) for promoting the health and safety of large dams in India through the World Bank aided Dam Rehabilitation and Improvement Project (DRIP), Central Board of Irrigation and Power (CBIP) conferred on CWC, the CBIP Special Recognition Award 2018, Excellence in Health & Safety of Large Dams for Dam Rehabilitation and Improvement Project for promoting health and safety conditions of large dams in India under the ‘Dam Rehabilitation and Improvement Project’ by application of state-of-the-art technology, to ensure their operational effectiveness for Irrigation and Drainage, Water Resources Management, Flood Protection, Disaster Management and excellent leadership in managing the Project. The award was received by Shri S M Husain, Chairman, CWC in the CBIP Raising Day celebrations.
Besides assisting in the rehabilitation of distressed large dams, DRIP also assists in the capacity building of the Implementing Agencies through national and international training programmes in which about 3200 dam professionals have been trained on various aspects of dam safety aspects. Besides, six premier academic institutes have been assisted to improve their capability in dam safety areas, so that their expertise could later be utilized by the dam owning agencies in their dam safety efforts. Seismic Hazard Assessment of South-India Region is being carried out by the Earthquake Engineering Department of IIT Roorkee and a Memorandum of Understanding is under process to sign with CWPRS, Pune for the Seismic Hazard Assessment of North and North-East India Region thereby making available Seismic Hazard map for India. Memoranda of Understanding have been signed by NGRI, Hyderabad, CWPRS Pune and IIT Roorkee with DRIP Implementing Agencies for the establishment of seismological instrument stations at specified dams at appropriate locations and later for collecting, processing, monitoring, analyzing, interpreting and archiving the data generated at seismological instrument stations of these Dams.
With the assistance from Japan Water Agency, an Inspection Manual for Dam Field Engineers after Seismic Events for the Ichari Dam in Uttarakhand has been developed. Guidelines for the Development and Implementation of Emergency Action Plans for Dams was published, and five more Guidelines i.e. Guidelines for Preparing Operation and Maintenance Manual for Dams; for Instrumentation of Large Dams; for Mapping Flood Risks Associated with Dams; for Safety Inspection of Dams; and the Manual for Rehabilitating Large Dams are to be released this month.
26-Jul-2021: Designs Changes by CWC of Polavaram Head Works
Implementation of Polavaram Irrigation Project, including the planning and design of its various components, is being done by the Government of Andhra Pradesh (GoAP). However, approval/ vetting of the designs is being done by Central Water Commission (CWC), to reaffirm their conformity with the relevant codal provisions, as well as with the provisions of Godavari Water Dispute Tribunal Award, 1980.
As informed by GoAP, vetting by CWC has led to changes in design of some components of the project, including height of the upstream and downstream coffer dams, depth of foundations, grades of concrete of spillway in deep blocks, diaphragm wall cutoff for the left side of upstream coffer Dam, chipping in gate grooves, stop log gates grooves, second stage concreting in spillway, etc.
Government of India is providing 100% reimbursement of the remaining cost of the irrigation component of the project for the period starting from 01.04.2014, to the extent of the cost of the irrigation component on that date.
GoAP has confirmed the same.
20-Jan-2021: MoS Jal Shakti chairs a review meeting of Central Water Commission
The Minister of State (Jal Shakti) reviewed the progress under various programmes namely, PMKSY and DRIP. He was informed that during the last one and a half year, 10 projects out of 99 priority projects under PMKSY have been completed. He was also informed that the Cabinet has approved DRIP II & III scheme with an outlay of about Rs. 10,000 crores out of which 7,000 crores will be funded by the World Bank and AIIB. He was also informed that under DRIP – I, rehabilitation of 223 dams located in 7 States has been done with an estimated cost of Rs. 3466 crores. Mr. Kataria lauded the role of Central Water Commission in operating this programme.
He was further informed that there will be better water management by formation of river basin organizations. He was worried about the increasing water conflicts in the country. CWC Officials informed that with the passage of ISWRD Amendment Bill, the water conflicts will be solved more quickly. CWC Officials also informed that the passage of ISWRD Bill and Dam Safety Bill is very much necessary for a holistic management of water resources in the country.
Mr. Kataria was informed that 79 new Flood Forecasting stations have been made operational in the last one year. As a result, 11,721 forecasts were issued in the year 2020 from 328 forecasting stations set up across 19 river basins. A newly upgraded Flood Forecasts Website and Flood Data entry utility started with effect from May 2020 - https://ffs.tamcnhp.com
During the discussion over flood forecasting and management, an issue pertaining to flooding caused by Brahmaputra river was discussed. The CWC officials apprised about the need for setting up a project at Upper Siang/Brahmaputra which shall be highly beneficial for the state of Assam. Regarding alleged Plan of China to set up a super hydropower station at Brahmaputra at Mêdog, Tibet, the officials apprised that any attempt to divert water of Brahmaputra river shall act as an encroachment on the entitled rights of lower riparian states like India, Bangladesh and adversely affect the availability of water in the Brahmaputra basin during the lean season. However, there are official platforms - like the Expert Level Mechanism set up between India and China in the year 2006 to discuss various issues related to trans-border rivers.
18-Jun-2018: Government to team up with Google for flood forecasting
Central Water Commission (CWC), India’s apex technical organization in the field of Water Resources, has entered into a Collaboration Agreement with Google to bring in effective flood management in India. CWC would use state-of-the-art advances made by Google in the in the field of Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning and geo spatial mapping for effective management of water resources particularly in the field of flood forecasting and dissemination of flood related information to the masses widely using the dissemination platforms developed by Google. This initiative is likely to help crisis management agencies to deal extreme hydrological events in a better manner.
Under this Agreement, CWC and Google will share technical expertise in the fields of artificial intelligence, machine learning, geospatial mapping and analysis of hydrological observation data to collaborate on (i) improving flood prediction systems, which will help provide location-targeted, actionable flood warnings, (ii) high priority research project utilizing Google Earth Engine to help visualize and improve flood management and (iii) a cultural project to build online exhibitions on the Rivers of India.
The Ministry had earlier launched an ambitious programme ‘National Hydrology Project’ (NHP) during the year 2016-17. NHP is a World Bank assisted central sector scheme with pan India coverage. The objective of National Hydrology Project is to improve the extent, quality, and accessibility of water resources information, decision support system for floods and basin level resource assessment/planning and to strengthen the capacity of targeted water resources professionals and management institutions in India.
The initiative on flood forecasting is likely to meet the much awaited demand of the inhabitants of the flood prone areas for inundation warnings with sufficient lead time. Till 2016, CWC was disseminating flood levels with maximum lead time of one day. During the flood season of 2017, CWC resorted to rainfall based modelling and issued flood advisories on trial basis with 3 days lead time.
Under collaborative arrangement, Google would use high resolution Digital Elevation Model and vast computational resources and its expertise in the field of Artificial Intelligence to generate flood inundation maps utilising the level forecast input provided by CWC. The information in the form of likely extent and depth of inundation would be disseminated with a lead time of up to 3 days. For the flood season of 2018, inundation forecasting would be done on trial basis and the same would be up scaled in near future. The collaborative arrangement is likely to result in saving of crore of rupees which otherwise would have to be spent by the government on acquiring high resolution DEM, high end computational resources and developing dissemination platforms widely used by the masses. This would enable the Government as well as disaster management organisations to identify well in advance the locations and population, which are at risk from floods and require warnings and information. This collaborative initiative is expected to be a milestone in flood management and in mitigating the flood losses.
5-Jan-2018: Central Water Commission Receives CBIP Special Recognition Award 2018 for Excellence in Health & Safety of Large Dams
In recognition of the contribution made by the Central Water Commission (CWC) for promoting the health and safety of large dams in India through the World Bank aided Dam Rehabilitation and Improvement Project (DRIP), Central Board of Irrigation and Power (CBIP) conferred on CWC, the CBIP Special Recognition Award 2018, Excellence in Health & Safety of Large Dams for Dam Rehabilitation and Improvement Project for promoting health and safety conditions of large dams in India under the ‘Dam Rehabilitation and Improvement Project’ by application of state-of-the-art technology, to ensure their operational effectiveness for Irrigation and Drainage, Water Resources Management, Flood Protection, Disaster Management and excellent leadership in managing the Project. The award was received by Shri S M Husain, Chairman, CWC in the CBIP Raising Day celebrations.
Besides assisting in the rehabilitation of distressed large dams, DRIP also assists in the capacity building of the Implementing Agencies through national and international training programmes in which about 3200 dam professionals have been trained on various aspects of dam safety aspects. Besides, six premier academic institutes have been assisted to improve their capability in dam safety areas, so that their expertise could later be utilized by the dam owning agencies in their dam safety efforts. Seismic Hazard Assessment of South-India Region is being carried out by the Earthquake Engineering Department of IIT Roorkee and a Memorandum of Understanding is under process to sign with CWPRS, Pune for the Seismic Hazard Assessment of North and North-East India Region thereby making available Seismic Hazard map for India. Memoranda of Understanding have been signed by NGRI, Hyderabad, CWPRS Pune and IIT Roorkee with DRIP Implementing Agencies for the establishment of seismological instrument stations at specified dams at appropriate locations and later for collecting, processing, monitoring, analyzing, interpreting and archiving the data generated at seismological instrument stations of these Dams.
With the assistance from Japan Water Agency, an Inspection Manual for Dam Field Engineers after Seismic Events for the Ichari Dam in Uttarakhand has been developed. Guidelines for the Development and Implementation of Emergency Action Plans for Dams was published, and five more Guidelines i.e. Guidelines for Preparing Operation and Maintenance Manual for Dams; for Instrumentation of Large Dams; for Mapping Flood Risks Associated with Dams; for Safety Inspection of Dams; and the Manual for Rehabilitating Large Dams are to be released this month.
10-Mar-2017: Narendra Kumar takes over as Chairman of Central Water Commission.
Narendra Kumar, an officer of Central Water Engineering Service (1979 batch) has assumed the charge of Chairman, Central Water Commission (CWC).
27-Jan-2017: CWC Signs MoU with IIT Madras and IIS Bengaluru to Support Their Dam Safety Capacity Building.
Central Water Commission (CWC) under the Ministry of Water Resources River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation signed two separate MoUs with IIT Madras and IIS Bengaluru in New Delhi today. This will help them for the procurement of specified equipment and software for enhancing their capability to support dam rehabilitation efforts of CWC.
The Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation has taken on board selected premier academic and research institutes, for capacity building in the areas of dam safety through World Bank assisted Dam Rehabilitation and Improvement Project (DRIP). The scope includes strengthening the testing laboratories, enhancing analytical capabilities, exposure visits to best global institutions and on ground exposure to dam safety concerns to the faculty of these institutions.
DRIP is assisting rehabilitation of 250 dams in seven States which are experiencing different levels of distress. Owners of these dams require technical support for the investigation of site conditions and supporting rehabilitation efforts. The Government of India has decided to enhance the capability of select premier institutes in dam safety areas so that they, in turn, carry out field investigations at dam sites and provide training and consulting services to assist the dam owners in their dam rehabilitation efforts. It is a holistic effort of the Government of India to equip our national institutions to develop capability and expertise at par with global institutions in the times to come.
