Filling of Tehri Reservoir by sendiment is a arising problem, that it will filled completely in 130 to 170 years. what will be the future then?
Tehri Dam has constructed for the generation of electricity and providing irrigation to downstream areas during winters and summers. But the major problem is of siltation, which is increasing day by day. The sediment is depositing behind the Tehri Dam in lake every year due which the capacity of the dam to store monsoon water is reduced because the storage space is preoccupied by the sediments.
According to the report (Page 16, Point 13) “Hydro graphic Survey of Tehri Reservoir” of Tojo Vikas International Limited “the useful life (of the Tehri project) is assumed to be till the stage when sedimentation reaches the minimum water level (MDDL) at the dam section. Keeping in view the above calculations by methods defined in the CPIP manual on life of Reservoir, the useful life of the reservoir can be taken safely as 130 years.”
It means that after 130 years, when the reservoir will fill completely with sediment then the Tehri dam will not be able to store the water.
Below we can see sediments deposited on the right hand side of the picture taken near Chiniyalisaur at the tail end of the Tehri Reservoir in 2007. The present position will be worse.
Similarly, the report(Page 24, Case 2) presented on “Reservoir Capacity and Sedimentation Study for Tehri Reservoir (Survey – 2013)” by A.C.Pandey says that the useful capacity of the reservoir is 171 years.
Both the above studies were commissioned by THDCL which runs the Tehri project. It is clear that the life of the reservoir is 130 to 171 years. We talk of sustainable development. Tehri is not sustainable because it will become a white elephant after 130-170 years. After this it will not be able to store water but the negative impacts on the environment will continue.
After coming to the power, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said that “now we don’t have to take anything from Ganga, only we have to give it.” We, therefore, request him to remove the Tehri Dam as soon as possible before it gets filled up with sediments and it becomes difficult to remove it.
