Prosperity and economic development of a region is linked to water resource development of that region. Orissa has plenty of water resources (114 lakh ham) in the form of annual precipitation to the tune of 1500 mm; major rivers like Mahanadi, Brahmani, Baitarani and Subarnarekha draining the State; 480 km of coastline; largest brackish water lake of Asia-Chilika and about 19,88,856 ham of utilisable ground water resources. Despite being resource rich, Orissa is ranked as the poorest State in India. Water rather than being a boon for the State has turned out to be a bane in the absence of proper management of it. While drought stalks the upper reaches of the rivers, the flood plain ie the coastal region, has to face the fury of flood almost every year.
Flood and drought have been the major impediments for the development of the State. But the Government’s approach to flood and drought has been rather very short-sighted. The State Government has always seen these problems as separate ones rather than as two sides of the same coin. In the post-independence era the State has continued with the colonial legacy of subjugating the rivers for flood control.
Embankments in the flood prone areas and creation of water storage reservoirs have been the interventions for flood control. This approach has aggravated the problem rather than addressing them. Through embankments only certain flood-excluded zones have been created. But, this has accentuated flood in the areas where there is no protection of the embankments. To make the things worse, the intensity of flood is on the rise with every passing year. While the major embankments of the State were constructed to accommodate 9-11 lakh cusecs of flood, the present peak flow is to the tune of 17 lakh cusecs. And the experts predict that it may cross 20 lakh cusecs in the next decade.
Other than embankments, various other structures like concrete buildings have also aggravated the problem. Due to rapid industrialisation and urbanisation, open land mass has been reduced substantially, which was holding the flood water a lot. On the other hand wetland and waste land, which are regarded as the health of a State has been encroached over a period of time due to rapid growth in population. In any condition, the wetlands and waste lands hold the highest amount of flood water, which is not happening these days.
Current developmental approach of the Government, particularly in terms of rural connectivity has also contributed a lot to increase in flood. Particularly, the roads constructed in rural areas through the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadaka Yojana (PMGSY) have grossly neglected the natural drainage line, for which the flood water hardly finds way to get discharged and intensity of flood increases. Even the State and National Highways are also being constructed in the same manner. The lesson has been learnt from the flood in Balasore district last year which aggravated due to NH-60.
Climate change has its own stake in aggravating the flood. According to the report ‘Climate Change Impacts in Drought and Flood Affected Areas: Case Studies in India’ released by World Bank on June 1, 2008, climate change is projected to bring a dramatic increase in the incidence of flooding in Orissa. As an example of the implied magnitudes, the probability that the discharge might exceed 25,000 cubic metres per second (cusecs) at the measuring station at Naraj on the Mahanadi River, is currently low at about 2 per cent. But under climate change, this is projected to rise dramatically to over 10 per cent. This suggests a clear need for improved and accurate forecasting tools to guide the appropriate location and design for flood protection infrastructure and other high-value assets.
The infrastructure created so far in terms of flood control, whether big or small, has been proven to be of no use in the changed context. In the post-independence era emphasis has been laid on construction of large dams like the Hirakud, the Rengali and the Indravati with objectives of flood control and irrigation. However, the facts that out of 314 blocks the State is yet to cover 35 per cent area in 194 blocks under irrigation as targeted and that flood has been a recurring phenomenon (2008 flood is a case in point) have challenged the efficacy of big dams. For instance in the last fifty years the success rate of Hirakud dam in controlling flood was up to 34 per cent. The statistics show that the dam failed in resisting moderate floods. The threat increases with the growing inconsistency of the rainfall pattern in the region. Who can say if someday the Hirakud Dam becomes a victim to a massive flood? Prior to the construction of the dam, yearly 78 per cent flood was recorded. This is known by a comparative statistics taken from 1931 to 1957. In the period from 1958 to 1984 this came down to 44 per cent. Due to flood and water logging, the crop damage which was 0.173 hectare increased to 0.22 hectare. While analyzing the pre-dam and the post-dam period with flood pattern, it is found that the large and devastating floods have come down from 76 per cent to 42 per cent while the small and moderate floods increased from 24 per cent to 58 per cent. In the pre-dam and post-dam period, the short-term floods showed a declining trend, ie, from 64.5 per cent to 30.8 per cent, the medium-term floods increased from 12.9 per cent to 28.5 per cent and the long-term floods increased from 12.9 per cent to 38.5 per cent. In 1982, 2001, 2006 and 2008, the dam was unable to control the flood water successfully.
Monsoon is approaching at the doorstep. Another year of disaster is ahead. The same or even more damage is going to be occurred in the State. It’s high time that policy level changes along with single strategy to control flood and drought is required.
-- The writer is with the Regional Centre for Development Cooperation (RCDC), Bhubaneswar
