BHUBANESWAR: With intensifying climate change, marked by erratic rainfall, increasing risk of water scarcity, the state government has set an ambitious vision to construct more dams and expand the water storage capacity of reservoirs from existing 23.60 billion cubic metres (BCM) to 27.60 BCM by 2047.
A senior official of the Water Resources department (DoWR) said the increased storage capacity will not only ensure water security but also help the department to expand irrigation coverage in the state. “We have decided to expand this coverage to 90 per cent of the state’s cultivable area in phases,” he said.
Department officials said currently, there are 220 specified dams in Odisha. The dams are either over 15 metre in height from the bottom of their foundation or at least 10-15 metre high with a minimum crest length of 500 metre.
“None of these specified dams are facing any imminent danger in terms of safety. However, remedial measures under the Dam Rehabilitation and Improvement Project (DRIP) with World Bank funding and Dam Protection and Improvement Works (DPIW) under the state scheme are being implemented to strengthen the dam structures, improve their performance and ensure their safety,” they said.
The state has already established a dedicated State Dam Safety Organisation (SDSO) along with Dam Safety Units to carry out regular monitoring, inspection and safety assessment of dams. Pre-monsoon and post-monsoon inspections are also being systematically conducted to identify and address any issues in time, said a Water Resources engineer.
“Real-time monitoring, in-flow flood forecasting and optimum reservoir management of important dams are being carried out through a smart AI-enabled digital tool called ‘Go-Water’ developed by the department, while modern systems like Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) are also being introduced to enable the automation of gates and their remote operation,” he said.
The engineer said the gates of Lower Suktel, Deo and Haldia dams are already being operated remotely through SCADA, while steps are being taken to adopt it in a few other selected dams in near future.