In August, western Odisha was shut down 13 times to protest the state government’s decision to build three barrages on the Mahanadi river. They are meant to dam surplus water downstream of the Hirakud reservoir to generate 320 MW power, and, as recently announced, to irrigate farms. Not a single …
Sunita Narain Director General of CSE and editor of Down To Earth, an environmentalist pushing for changes in policies and practices and mindsets A monsoon warning As I write this my city Delhi is drowning. It started raining early this morning and within a few hours the city has come …
Each year, floods, to greater or lesser degree, affect about 7.5 million hectares in India, a little over two per cent of the country's surface area. What's more, over five times this area is considered prone to floods, caused when rivers breach their banks. But this year, and of late, …
There is no sign of floods abating in Odisha. In the space of a fortnight, the number of people affected by the deluge in the Mahanadi river, the state's largest riverine system, increased from one million to 2.2 million on September 13. Two-thirds of the state's 30 districts are affected. …
Even as 96 dams in Gujarat were put on high alert following heavy rainfall on the evening of September 11, many of them were full to their capacities, including the Sardar Sarovar Narmada Dam in Kevadia. At least 7,000 people were evacuated in August and September from different parts of …
On February 26, as night fell on the tranquil Gahirmatha beach in Odisha, thousands of Olive Ridley turtles crawled in. Using their rear flippers, they dug pits in the soft beach sand and started laying eggs, more than 100 at a time. Then they skilfully covered the nests with sand …
BHUBANESWAR: In the midst of a raging controversy over water diversion for industry, Orissa’s woes are going to worsen. Its rivers will provide for less as the water stress grows in future. If that is not all, the rising pollution will add to its misery, the latest report on water …
JANJGIR-CHAMPAWhere power kills Located on the banks of the Mahanadi, a predominantely agricultural district, Janjgir-Champa is poised to become a industrial hub as several mega projects are planned there. Four thermal power plants have got clearance and 13 are under process. Two biomass-based thermal power plants are also planned. The …
Of the 118 proposed projects, for which data is available, 33 plan to withdraw water from the Mahanadi, Chhattisgarh's main river. The water requirement of projects withdrawing water from the river stands at 1,500 mcm per year. If the water requirement of projects withdrawing from its tributaries—Lilagarh, Hasdeo and Seonath—are …
On an industrial roller-coaster, Chhattisgarh has not once stopped to take stock of the cumulative environmental impact of the many projects. On a spree to usher more and more, the government does not consider important an analysis of a project's incremental impact combined with the effects of other projects. The …
Impacts of climate change on hydrology are assessed by downscaling large scale general circulation model (GCM) outputs of climate variables to local scale hydrologic variables. This modelling approach is characterized by uncertainties resulting from the use of different models, different scenarios, etc. Modelling uncertainty in climate change impact assessment includes …
BERHAMPUR: A long march demanding linking of major rivers of Orissa was flagged off from Kasinagar in Gajapati district of south Orissa on Friday. Different organisations of south Orissa have come together for the march from Kashinagar to Bhubaneswar demanding linking of Vansadhara, Rushikulya and Mahanadi rivers of Orissa. The …
An assessment of the water quality of Mahanadi and its distributary rivers and streams, Atharabanki river and Taldanda Canal adjoining Paradip was studied in three different seasons namely summer, premonsoon and winter. Four parameters namely pH, Dissolved Oxygen, Biochemical Oxygen Demand and Fecal Coliform were considered to compute Water Quality …
Devi estuary is one of the major tributaries of the Mahanadi riverine system in Orissa. Modernization and industrialization in its neighbourhood in the north in the recent past have greatly influenced many tributaries of the Mahanadi and the adjacent coastal environments. To trace the influence of this modernization activity further …
Look at the contours of the disastrous consequences of the current Orissa floods in Mahanadi River basin: According to Engineer in Chief, Water Resources Department of Orissa, this is the worst floods in Orissa since 1982. The reason behind this flood disaster is the filling up of the Hirakud Dam …
The discharge of municipal sewage, industrial effluents and biomedical waste into the Mahanadi has raised concerns about environmental sustainability and also posed a serious threat to the health of people living on the banks. This article critically examines the river pollution caused by the spiralling urbanisation and industrialisation along with …
Any reduction in water spread area at a specified elevation over a time period is indicative of sediment deposition at this level. This when integrated over a range of water stages helps in computing volume of storage lost through sedimentation. This study relates to estimation of capacity loss due to …
