Dams in Uttarakhand: Salient Features

Several communities traditionally relied on Himalayan Rivers, particularly the Ganga, as water supply. Outside Rishikesh, the Ganga meets the needs of various sectors, including agriculture and transportation. Economic activity has heavily impacted the river, including its usage as organic sewage; however, much of this has occurred beyond Uttarakhand. Uttarakhand’s development is constrained, particularly in its hilly parts. Only tourism and hydropower possess the capacity to enhance the economic situation of this mountainous terrain at the moment.

A Simple Glance at the Salient Features of dams in Uttarakhand

A dam would be a structure that prevents water ingress and thus features a basin. Dams can be typically built to create electricity by harnessing the power of water. This sort of energy is known as hydroelectricity. Dams generate reservoirs that offer fresh irrigation water, domestic use, industrial use, cultivation, and transportation and prevent disasters.

Uttarakhand’s River Reservoirs the whole Ganga drainage encompasses Uttarakhand. The Ganga would be a transboundary stream that runs through both India and Bangladesh. The river begins in the foothills Of the Himalayas throughout the Uttarakhand, runs east and south across the Northern Plains of North India, and discharges further into the Bay of Bengal in Bangladesh.

The Ganga starts at the convergence of the Bhagirathi and Alaknanda streams and flows through Uttarakhand, forming the Ganga sub-basins. Uttarakhand’s other large rivers would include the Yamuna, Ramganga, Alaknanda subbasins, and the Bhagirathi, Alaknanda, and Ganga subbasins.

Although the western Ramganga would be referred to as the Ramganga basin, the eastern Ramganga would be referred to as the Sharda basin and Sharda. Eastern Ramganga, Dhauliganga, Kaliganga, Goriganga, as well as a portion of Mahakali basin make up the Sharda subbasin. The following are the different types of reservoirs based on the salient features:

• Arch Dams: An arch structure is a stone dam with a design that curves upstream. It’s made such that the water’s fluid pressure forces on the arch, forcing the arch to flatten somewhat and reinforcing the building as it pushes itself against base or abutments. A tight canyon or valley with steep sides of the sturdy rock to sustain the construction and pressures is ideal for an appropriate angle

• Gravity dams include dams made of concrete or natural stone. They’re intended to keep water out by relying on the substance’s weight and stiffness to the base to counteract the horizontal force of water pressing on it. These are predicated on the assumption that each part of the dam is secure and self-contained

• Arch-Gravity Structure: This dam combines the features of an arch with hydraulic structures. It’s a dam that narrows as it goes upstream, directing most of the hydrostatic pressure against the canyon cliffs. The river’s downward pressure reduces the horizontal (lateral) stresses imposed on the dam

• Barrages are low-head redirection dams that include a series of big gates that may be held open to regulate the volume of water that passes through. This enables the building to control and stabilize river water elevations downstream for agriculture and other purposes

• Embankment Dams: A big man made dam is known as an embankment dam. A complicated semi-plastic mound of varied components of soil, sand, mud, or rock is often placed and compacted to make it. It features a solid, impenetrable core and a semi-pervious impermeable natural coating for its exterior

• Dams made of compressed free-draining particulate earth with an impermeable zone are known as rock-fill dams. The phrase “rock-fill” refers to a soil with a higher proportion of big particles

• Concrete-face rock-fill dams (CFRDs) are rock-fill structures with concrete blocks on the upstream edge. The concrete block serves as an impenetrable wall to avoid infiltration and a framework that is unaffected by uplift tension

• Earth-fill reservoirs are made up of a basic elevation of well-compacted earth. They are also known as hydraulic features, rolled-earth dams, or plain earth dams. A relatively homogenous rolled-earth dam is made entirely of one material, except for a drainage layer for collecting seep rainwater

Inhabitants in Uttarakhand virtually invariably embrace hydropower developments. People’s resistance is not directed towards hydropower projects but rather at obtaining their rights to adequate subsistence and remuneration. Self-described conservationists who call for the Ganga to be saved lack the factual knowledge and awareness of the mountain people’s socio-economic situations needed to evaluate hydel initiatives critically.

Conclusion

Uttarakhand is a self-sufficient state with excellent electricity-generating capabilities. The dams receive energy from water resources such as glacial ice and showers. These dams are then utilized as big reservoirs for power generation. Dam constructions are the only way for excess water in Uttarakhand to improve people’s economic position. The water would not be held back by run-of-the-river electricity, and the issue of water flow disjunction would not emerge. When contrasted to some other usage for the river, hydropower becomes more environmentally benign. Primary occupants, such as the mountain people of the Gangetic plain, may have the same access to groundwater for economic growth as downstream residents.