KOCHI: Dismissing the findings of the Amicus Curiae, who in his recent report, said that sudden release of water from dams had worsened the flood situation mid-August, the state government informed the Kerala High Court on Monday that the strongest monsoon since 1924 was its main reason.
The government said his conclusions were mostly derived from non-scientific and rejected commentaries and articles. The statement which talked about ‘sudden release of water from dams’ was an allegation made by certain political parties in the state.
The methodology the Amicus Curiae adopted was non-scientific. He had compared two high-quality scientifically accepted articles (Central Water Commission report and IIT Madras article) with a rejected article (IIT Gandhinagar). The CWC Report and IIT Madras study had categorically stated that heavy rainfall was the only cause.
The government said outflow from the reservoirs did not exceed inflow into the reservoir during the event of extreme rainfall and hence the flood could not be termed a man-made disaster.
Moreover, in the case of irrigation reservoirs, maximum flood discharge through the spillways was only to the tune of 50 per cent of its designed maximum spillway discharge. It clearly shows possible flood moderation was achieved with the limited flood zone in these reservoirs.
Flood management is different from dam management. While dams with sufficient design features and capacities may be used as a tool for flood-risk reduction, they cannot prevent flooding.