Reservoir Sedimentation and Concerns of Stakeholders

Abstract

Water resource’ across the world is becoming scarce element due to rising population and poor water management. The world population already crossed 700 crores and the global water deficit to an extent of 40 percent is forecast by the year 2030. For India, a deficit of 50 percent is forecast by the year 2030, with a projected annual water demand of 1500 cubic kilo- meters and water availability of 744 cubic kilo- meters. India’s greatest challenge is to set in place an efficient system of river basin/ reservoir management to conserve every drop of water for useful means of mankind to meet the present and future requirements. The reservoirs which are most dependable source of storage for extraction of water depending on the priority requirements, are facing the problem of ‘sedimentation’ due to which they are losing their storage capacities gradually. According to a survey during the year 2012 across 122 reservoirs in India, 0.44% of reservoir storage is being replaced annually with sediment deposit. Sediment tends to accumulate at all levels(Dead and live storage) within the reservoir, with the specific accumulation pattern varying from one site to other. A wide range of sediment related problems include storage loss, delta deposition, environmental pollution, earthquake hazards etc., are to be tackled with different sediment management techniques. For sustainable development of water resources, the major stakeholders including reservoir owners, beneficiary farmers, domestic/ industrial consumers, agencies connected to tourism/ fisheries and research organizations etc., shall come together and formulate solutions to the problem of sedimentation. Various consequences due to sediment trapping and the related impact on the environment have been discussed in the present study with conclusions for sustainable long- term utilization of Reservoirs.