INCOLD

INCOLD JOURNAL
Volume 1, No. 1 January 2012

EDITORIAL BOARD CONTENTS

• Mr. M. Gopalakrishnan, Secretary Page No.
General Honrarire, ICID FROM EDITOR’S DESK

• Dr. Martin Wieland, Chairman, ICOLD • ICOLD in the process of bringing out a World Declaration
Committee on Seismic Aspects during 2012 Annual Session in Kyoto on Water Storage
for Sustainable Development 3
• Dr. D.V. Thareja, Director – Technical,
• History of Rockfill Dam Construction 5
SNC Lavalin Engg. India Ltd.
• Definition of Rockfill Versus Earthfill Material 8
• Mr. S.P. Kakran, Member – CWC
• Identification, Mitigation and Management of Risks in
• Mr. V.K. Gupta, Executive Director – Hydropower Projects 13
Hydro Engg, NTPC Limited
• Hydropower Development in India : Need of Commitment
• Mr. Satish Kumar Sharma, VP, and Synergy 18
Moserbaer India Limited
• Dam Safety: Illusion and Reality 25
• Mr. R.K. Vishnoi, AGM-Designs,
THDC India Limited • ICOLD Activity 31
• INCOLD Activities 35
Editors
• Mr. V.K. Kanjlia, Secretary General, • Seminar on Roller Compacted Concrete Dams 35
INCOLD and Secretary, CBIP • Workshop on Dam Safety Management 39
• Mr. A.C. Gupta, Director – Water
• Proceedings of Short Course on Scour of Rock 41
Resources, CBIP
Associate Editor • ICOLD Events - 80th Annual Meeting and 24th ICOLD
• Mr. Sunil Sharma, Sr. Manager, Congress 42
CBIP • Calendar 43
• The IEA Hydropower Roadmap Advances 44

ABOUT JOURNAL
INCOLD Journal is a national half yearly journal for fully-reviewed quantitative articles on aspects of the planning,
design, construction and maintenance of reservoirs, dams and barrages, foundation and scientific aspects of
the design, analysis and modeling of dams and associated structures.
In addition to the information on the research work on the relevant subjects, the journal shall provide information
on the related technical events in India and abroad such as conferences/training programmes/exhibitions etc.
Information related to ICOLD activities shall also be highlighted

All communications to be addressed to :

Secretary General
Indian National Committee on Large Dams, CBIP Building, Malcha Marg, Chanakyapuri, New Delhi – 110 021
Ph. : 91-11-2611 5984/2611 6567, Fax : 91-11-2611 6347 E-mail : cbip@cbip.org; Web: http//www.cbip.org
2 INCOLD Journal

EDITORIAL

Water is an essential resource for life and the environment. During the second half of
the twentieth century, an increase in the world’s population and the economic and
social progress of the developed countries has put serious pressures on water.
Numerous countries across the planet are now affected by a water crisis.

There is increasing stress on water ecosystems as the natural environment continues

to be impacted. The incidence and extent of flooding has increased, and water can be
seen in many situations as a hazard rather than a resource.

The renewable water resources in the world, which emanate from the hydrological cycle, are distributed
extremely irregularly, not only in time but also geographically. With the available of only limited quantity of
water that too unevenly distributed, a need was felt to store the water to use it at the time of need. Over the
past 5000 years, more than 50,000 large dams have been constructed in different parts of the world to ensure
water is available for domestic and agricultural purposes throughout the year. The water that is stored and
regulated by dams and reservoirs produces irreplaceable water resources and brings benefits to water supply,
irrigation, hydropower, flood mitigation, river navigation, recreation, tourism and the environment.
The contribution of dam projects in India’s battle against hunger is striking and self-evident. Agriculture and
industrial revolution in the State of Punjab and Haryana are good example. The “Green Revolution” has
contributed progressive improvement in yield of major food crops in Punjab and Haryana besides poverty
alleviation. The contribution of storage dams are important for contributing towards the development of irrigated
agriculture and improved productivity, enhanced hydropower generation and also enhanced domestic and
industrial water supply, leading to the well-being of people in the country. Many multi-purpose projects like
Bhakra-Nangal, Tehri, Sardar Sarovar etc. are shining example of this.
Providing information on the advancement of dams planning, development, and management its associated
research works besides providing information Service to all concerned with dam engineering about the
development, techniques, new trends and experience gained by others to enable updating of knowledge are
the main aim and objective of the Indian Committee on Large Dams (INCOLD). INCOLD acts as a coordinating
body in India for International Commission on Large Dams (ICOLD) which has 92 Members as its national
group with India being one of them.
As a part of the activities of INCOLD, the first issue of its technical journal, “INCOLD journal” is in your hand.
The journal will be published on half-yearly basis (January-June and July-December)
We are grateful to the contribution of authors, the work of reviewers and support of editorial board who
managed the review process and submission of final papers for the first issue of INCOLD Journal. I request
also the readers to contribute technical papers/articles, news etc. which would be of interest for publishing in
the subsequent issues of the journal. I also request for the comments/suggestions of the readers so as to
improve the utility of the journal.

V.K. Kanjlia
Secretary General
Indian Committee on Large Dams
New Delhi

Volume 1 v No. 1 v January 2012 2


ICOLD IN THE PROCESS OF BRINGING OUT A WORLD
DECLARATION DURING 2012 ANNUAL SESSION
IN KYOTO ON WATER STORAGE FOR
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
M. Gopalakrishnan
Secretary General Honrarire ICID and
Chairman INCOLD Committee on Seismicity & Dams
It is heartening to note that three lead international
organisations concerned with dams as a tool for the future
sustainable development had come forward to chalk out
an interest declarations in the forthcoming ICOLD Annual
Sessions in Kyoto. The draft declaration exchanged
between the organisations are being firmed up and run
as below. INCOLD fraternity may wish to take note of.
The Draft Declaration in consideration is as follows:
In 2050 world population will reach more than 9 billion
inhabitants!
This population rise will mainly be concentrated in the
cities where the need for waterÿfood and electricity is
much higher than in rural areas. The global increase in
population and living standards will definitely raise the
requirement for water, food and energy consumption. This
means that in 2050:
Energy sources for producing electricity will be
limited:
• Fossil energies are polluting the environment, adding
to climate change and their reserves are limited
• Nuclear energy is restricted to industrial countries
which have the technology
• Wind, solar and other intermittent renewable energies
are crucial and it is absolutely necessary for them to
be developed but they are costly and will continue to
be marginal compared to world needs.
Due to climate change, water distribution may become
more and more uneven, and extreme climate events
may result in frequent floods and longer droughts.
Water is precious and will become very scarce and water,
food and electricity demands may double while floods
and droughts will become more severe in some regions.
Water storage infrastructure will become increasingly
important!
Out of the 40,000 km3/year of freshwater available each
year, only 9,000 km3/year are accessible. This fact
explains why it has been necessary to construct more
than 50,000 large dams and millions of small reservoirs
over the past 5,000 years, in order to be able to satisfy
water demands. These water storage facilities regulate
about 4,000 Km3/year.
3
Water storage infrastructures with multi-functions on flood
control, drought mitigation, water supply, irrigation, power
generation, and so on, are vital for human development.
A consensus on the role of dams and reservoirs in
sustainable development has already been reached by
international communities. The point has been highlighted
many times such as in “Johannesburg Declaration on
Sustainable Development” (2002), “Beijing Declaration on
Hydropower and Sustainable Development” (2004), “World
Declaration - Dam and Hydropower for African Sustainable
Development” (2008), “Ministerial Declaration of the Fifth
World Water Forum” (2009), and “Ministerial Declaration
of the Sixth World Water Forum” (2012).
In order to face these 21st Century’s challenges
We need to strengthen the maintenance of existing water
storage infrastructures and further develop new eco-
friendly water storage infrastructures through adequate
legislation and funding, optimizing the use of water, this
precious gift from nature, while combining the different
purposes of dams and reservoirs:
• Flood management and drought mitigation
• Food production
• Clean drinking water supply
• Electricity production, and
• Navigation
There is need to accelerate the development of water
storage infrastructure
• For Flood Management and Drought Mitigation
Floods and droughts are currently still the greatest
problem for many developing countries with insufficient
water storage infrastructure. Every year, more than 200
million people are affected by flood damage. The water
storage facilities by attenuating the flood peaks can
contribute to mitigating the adverse impacts of floods
and droughts. Water storage infrastructure is the key to
water disaster mitigation, especially in developing
countries.
• For Food
Irrigated agriculture covers about 277 million hectares
(Mha) i.e. about 18% of the world’s arable land, but
provides about 40% of crop output and employs nearly
Volume 1 v No. 1 v January 2012
4 INCOLD Journal
30% of the population spread over rural areas. The need
for food will double by this mid-century, most extra needs
being in the countries with long dry seasons. Since arable
land area is limited, the additional production will require
efficient use of existing irrigation facilities and extending
the area under irrigation through increased water storage
facilities. It is estimated that 80% of additional food
production by 2025 will need to come from irrigated land.
• For Clean Drinking Water
One of the Millennium Development Goals consists in
halving the proportion of people without sustainable access
to safe drinking water by 2015. In 2000, there were 61
countries with 2.1 billion people who could not have access
to water, that is to say the minimal quantity of 50 liters per
day and per capita. With the expected population growth,
this number will reach 4.2 billion by 2025. In addition,
municipal water supply and industrial plants and processes
require a significant amount of water to run safely.
• For Electricity
Hydropower supplies about 16% of the world’s electricity
today. Hydro supplies more than 50% of national
electricity in about 65 countries, more than 80% in 32
countries and almost all of the electricity in 13 countries.
But only 22% of the globe’s hydropower potential has been
developed. Many countries have thus a vast hydropower
potential waiting to be developed. Transforming this potential
into reality would save fossil fuels and reduce greenhouse
gas emissions. Reservoirs created for Hydropower will
contribute to the development of other intermittent sources
of electricity production such as solar and wind. This will
play a key role in sustainable development of energy supply
and in environmental protection.
• For Navigation
Inland navigation for goods transportation, compared with
trucks on highways, rail or airplane, has many evident
environmental and economical advantages. Inland
navigation is also unique for handling cargo with large
dimensions. For those reasons, nations have encouraged
inland navigation on canals but also in natural river
conditions. Storages are essential to keep the navigation
routes active during the lean flow periods.
There is need to improve the maintenance and
operation of water storage infrastructure.
Taking into account the aging process, higher safety
requirements from society, and the need to adapt to
increasing number of extreme events, we need to
increase maintenance to decrease the risks to water
storage infrastructure, especially during earthquakes,
extreme floods, etc.
Climate change has made reservoir regulation more
difficult as river hydrological patterns change. We need
Volume 1 v No. 1 v January 2012
to optimize reservoir regulation to store more floodwater
for maximizing the use of flood resources while
considering requirements of both the upstream and
downstream. It is expected that based on the monitoring
and inflow forecasting system based on technological
progress in satellite observations, meteorological
predictions and higher computing capabilities, real time
operation for varied water level control of reservoirs is
implemented to achieve a balance between infrastructure
safety and wise use of water resources.
We, therefore, call for joint efforts for developing
water storage infrastructure in a better and
sustainable way.
Today, water and energy schemes can be built in a safe,
economic, and eco-friendly way. Based on the multi-
faceted and cross-boundary nature of water issues in
the present world,
• We call for more cooperation among various
stakeholders, government authorities, knowledge
institutions, business companies, civil societies, and
local communities to speed up the development and
implementation of effective and sustainable water
solutions.
• We call for improved policies, frameworks and
guidelines to evaluate and mitigate environmental and
social impacts of various storage options and to address
the concerns of affected vulnerable communities.
• We call for more multilateral and bilateral funding
agencies to engage with countries on dams and
reservoirs, promoting national and regional project
development facilities through innovative funding
mechanisms.
In conclusion
Water is life and water storage infrastructure is an
indispensable tool meeting the water needs of the
society in a highly variable climate.
To meet growing demands for water, food and energy,
it is time to develop solutions for better use of water
resources, especially for most developing countries,
and to match political commitments with delivery.
A balanced approach combining large, medium and
small reservoirs is required; one that fully takes into
account sustainable development, in harmony with
nature, and all other alternatives and ways to
minimize negative impact.
The organizations signing this declaration agreed to
collaborate actively with the partners and
stakeholders of this declaration.
The functions of water storages will be more and
more crucial in the climate change context as
investment in water storage infrastructure is
investment in green economy.
 5

HISTORY OF ROCKFILL DAM CONSTRUCTION

Allan J. Breitenbach, P.E.
AB Engineering Inc., Littleton, Colorado, USA

Part 1 summarized rockfill placement and compaction

guidelines for mine structures, including dams and
structure foundations. Part 2 for this article provides an
historical perspective to rockfill dam construction. The
historical record indicates 4 milestones in rockfill dam
construction.
The first milestone included the use of low level hand
placed rockfill dumps with timber facing on the upstream
slope in the 1850’s for water storage and gold sluicing
operations. The second milestone included a gradual
increase in water storage dam heights to over 300 feet
(100 m) high using thick dry and loose rockfill dump lift
placement by trucks or draglines without compaction
into the 1940’s. The third milestone included the use of Photo 1
high-pressure water jets and flooding techniques to wet
and consolidate the thick loose rockfill dump lifts to
achieve up to 85 percent of total dam settlement before
reservoir filling from the 1940’s into the 1950’s. The
fourth milestone included control of rockfill lift thickness
with dozer spreading and roller compaction, in addition
to documentation of rockfill gradation, moisture, and
density in large-scale test fills from the 1960’s to the
present day.

INTRODUCTION
Modern day rockfill dam construction must rely heavily
on past experiences for guidance pertaining to the
placement and compaction of large rock fragments in a
compacted fill structure. Special rock equipment and
procedures are required for rock borrow development,
hauling, placing, and compacting to produce a stable
and acceptable engineered fill structure. The
conventional earthfill test methods for controlling lift
thickness, gradation, moisture content, and compaction
are not applicable to rockfills and must be modified to a
site specific compactive effort specification using test
fills and large vibratory roller compactors.
This article presents a brief history of rockfill dam
construction from about 1850 to present day. Rockfill
construction at a gold mine site in Northern Peru is shown
on Photos 1 and 2.
ROCKFILL HISTORY
First Milestone
Rockfill materials have been used in dam construction
since ancient times. However, modern day rockfill dam
construction essentially originated in California about 150
Photo 2
years ago during the mining gold rush era. Drill and blast
mining techniques by miners provided an abundant
supply of rock materials for use in dam construction. Gold
mining in the 1850’s also required a large and steady
supply of water for sluicing and extracting the heavier
gold nuggets from alluvial placer deposits. The miners
used the rock quarry materials to construct water storage
dams in remote areas by hand or with available mine
haul and dump equipment.
The early rockfill dams were small and generally
consisted of a single lift of loosely dumped rockfill with
an upstream timber facing to retard seepage. The
downstream slope was typically at the natural angle of
repose approaching 1.2 horizontal to 1.0 vertical
(1.2H:1V). The upstream slope was sometimes hand
shaped to as steep as 0.75 horizontal to 1.0 vertical
(0.75H:1V) for the timber facing.

5 Volume 1 v No. 1 v January 2012

6 INCOLD Journal
One of the highest dumped rockfill dams constructed in
the California Sierras during this early gold mining era
was the Meadow Lake dam at 75 feet (23 m) high. The
upstream slope was constructed to 0.75H:1V with the
crest freeboard area at 0.5H:1V using hand placed rocks
to maintain the face slope during rock dumping. The
downstream slope was constructed to 1H:1V in the lower
section and hand shaped to 0.5H:1V in the upper section
similar to the upstream facing.
Second Milestone
The second milestone covers the time period from the
1910’s to 1940’s in which rockfill dump water storage
dams began to exceed 100 feet (30 m) in height. The
“dry rock dump” technique in rockfill dam construction
developed into the placement of thick single or multiple
rockfill lifts in combination with relatively low permeability
upstream facing materials (timber, steel, concrete, or
asphaltic concrete). One of the highest dry rock dump
dams in this time period was the Salt Springs Dam in
California at 328 feet (100 m) in height.
The unprecedented water storage dam heights for rock
dumps constructed in thick dry loose rock lifts at the
angle-of-repose was possible because the rockfill dams
remained stable with no slope failures. However, the
larger dams were beginning to experience seepage
problems on the upstream facing due to post-construction
settlement movements.
The dry rock dump dams experienced undetermined self-
weight settlements during construction loading and large
observable post-construction settlements during initial
reservoir filling. The post-construction settlements
appeared to be directly caused by hydraulic loading on
the upstream facing. This in turn caused some differential
movement of the relatively rigid facing materials and
leakage along separated facing panel joints.
Additional settlements may have occurred from
subsequent wetting of the dry rockfill due to facing
leakage or abutment foundation seepage. The post-
construction wetting action increased the total moist unit
weight of the dry and fully drained rock dump mass.
Repair of facing leaks during reservoir operations was
expensive and involved underwater repairs or reservoir
drainage.
Third Milestone
The third milestone covers the time period from the 1940’s
to 1950’s in which the dry rock dump placement
continued, except the dry and loose rockfill lifts were
wetted to promote self-weight settlement during
construction of the larger rockfill dams. The 1940’s also
included the first use of earthfill core and filter materials
in the interior section of the rockfill dams.
Volume 1 v No. 1 v January 2012
Rockfill dam heights began to exceed 300 feet (100 m)
in the 1940’s to more than 500 feet (152 m) in the 1950’s.
High-pressure jet wetting or irrigation flooding techniques
were developed on the dry rock dump surfaces to
consolidate and reduce large post-construction
settlements to acceptable levels. Thorough wetting during
construction reduced typical post-construction rockfill
dam settlements from 5 to 7 percent without wetting to
about 1 percent with wetting, thus reducing leakage and
repair costs.
Prior to 1955, the loose rock dump lifts for in-place wetting
or flooding typically ranged from 35 to 165 feet (11 to 50
m) in loose lift thickness with the maximum known rock
dump lift placed at 200 feet (61 m). After 1955, the dry
rock dump lift placement was modified on some dams to
thinner lifts to incorporate the use of weaker rockfill
materials in dam construction (weathered rock or poor
quality rock materials that were locally available at the
dam sites). The thinner rockfill lifts also reduced rock
segregation where larger sized rocks tend to roll to the
bottom of the lift during dumping and dozing operations.
Rock segregation in a dumped fill slope can be seen in
Photos 1 and 2, where boulder-sized rocks to 3 feet (1
m) in diameter rolled to the bottom of a 45 feet (15 m)
thick dry rock dump lift composed primarily of sand, gravel
and cobble sized fill material.
By the late 1950’s, the rock dump lift thickness on several
large dams was reduced to 10 to 12 feet (3 to 4 m) thick
with the top surface leveled and tracked by dozer passes
and loaded haul truck traffic. This type of lift construction
thickness and equipment provided a limited amount of
compaction effort in the upper half of the loose lift with
the lower half remaining relatively loose and
uncompacted.
No rockfill water storage dam failures occurred for both
the earlier “dry” and subsequent “wet” rockfill dumps.
However, there was growing concern for the stability of
large rockfill dams in more populated areas with the
limited amount of engineering knowledge about rockfill
strengths and the lack of established rockfill placement
and test control procedures. This concern led to a rapid
change in rockfill dam construction by the late 1950’s,
after 110 years of relatively successful rock dump fill
construction.
Fourth Milestone
The fourth milestone covers the time period from the
1960’s to the present day in which rockfill construction
changed from wet rock dump placement in relatively thick
loose lifts to compacted rockfill placement in thin
controlled lifts for heavy roller compaction. The wet rock
dump technique was essentially discontinued by 1965
on large rockfill dams around the world. The current
 History of Rockfill Dam Construction
maximum compacted rockfill dam height is 800 feet (243
m) for the Alberto Lleras Dam constructed in 1989 in
Columbia. Other compacted earth and rockfill dams are
under construction to greater heights, including Tehri Dam
in India at 853 feet (260 m) high and Rogun Dam in
Tadjikistan at 1,100 feet (335 m) high. The highest
compacted earth and rockfill dam in the USA is the New
Melones Dam in California at 627 feet (191 m) high.
Compacted rockfills starting in the late 1950’s into the
early 1960’s utilized dozer track passes, controlled routing
of loaded haul truck equipment or the use of heavy steel
drum or pneumatic rubber tired roller passes for
compaction. Rockfill loose lift thicknesses for compaction
varied, but generally were in the range of 3 to 10 feet (1
to 3 m) in thickness. The movement away from rock dump
techniques toward controlled thinner rockfill lifts and
compaction improved the rockfill density and strength,
as well as further reducing the post-construction
settlement movements.
Large scale engineering test fill studies by the Corps of
Engineers and Bureau of Reclamation in the early 1960’s
confirmed better compaction by heavy steel drum
vibratory rollers compared to non-vibrating heavy
pneumatic rubber-tired or steel drum rollers. Large scale
test fill lift thicknesses for the early studies varied from
1.5 to 3 feet (0.5 to 1 m). The vibratory roller static steel
drum weight for the study was 10 tons and the pneumatic
rubber-tired roller static weight was 50 tons.
The vibratory roller compactors are a relatively new
concept in compacted rockfill construction, having been
developed within the last 40 years. The tractor-pulled
rollers began to change to self-propelled rollers in the
1970’s for improved rockfill lift compaction, particularly
at the dam abutments. Single and double drum rollers
with static drum weights of 8 to 20 tons are typical for
use in modern day compacted rockfills. Rockfill materials
are moistened in the borrow or fill area, if required, and
compacted under fully drained conditions. Water storage
dam rockfill loose lift thicknesses are generally less than
5 feet (1.5 m) for the 10 to 20 ton static smooth steel
drum weight vibratory rollers.
SUMMARY
Rock dump construction in thick and dry loose rockfill
lifts has been successful in providing stable water storage
7
dam slope conditions on large and small dams for more
than 100 years after this type of rockfill construction began
in the 1850’s. However, several larger dams constructed
between 1910 and 1940, and exceeding 100 feet (30 m)
in height, experienced excessive post-construction
settlement and movement of the upstream facing
materials during first reservoir filling.
Thorough wetting or flooding of the dry rock dump lifts
during lift placement in the 1940’s to 1950’s, as well as a
reduction of the loose lift thickness in the mid to late
1950’s, minimized post-construction settlement
movements in the larger dams during reservoir filling.
From the 1960’s to the present day, the accepted practice
for modern-day rockfill dam construction is moisture
conditioning and compaction in controlled lifts with
vibratory steel drum roller compactors. Self-propelled
rollers are more efficient over tractor-pulled rollers,
particularly at dam abutments. Rockfill moisture
conditioning is generally site-specific with wetting of rock
materials in the borrow or on the fill.
In comparison to the earlier rock dump techniques, the
placement and compaction of rockfills in controlled lifts
significantly reduced post-construction settlement,
reduced material segregation due to high lift rock fall on
the slopes, increased the rockfill density and related
strength, and allowed lateral and vertical placement of
transitional zones for fine to coarse rock materials and
internal earthfill core and drain filter systems within the
dam embankment.
REFERENCES
Cooke, J.B. (October 1984), “Progress in Rockfill Dams”,
ASCE, Journal of Geotechnical Engineering, Vol. 110,
No. 10, pp. 1,383 to 1,414.
Glozè, Alfred R. et al, 1977, “Design of Rockfill Dams”,
Chap. 7, Handbook of Dam Engineering.
Pope, R. J., 1966, "Evaluation of Cougar Dam
Embankment Performance", ASCE Soil Mechanics and
Foundations Division Conference, Berkeley, CA; ASCE,
New York.
United States Department of the Interior, Bureau of
Reclamation, 1974, "Rockfill Dams", Chap. VII of Design
of Small Dams, Water Resources Technical Publication,
Denver, Colorado.
Volume 1 v No. 1 v January 2012
8 INCOLD Journal

DEFINITION OF ROCKFILL VERSUS

EARTHFILL MATERIAL
Allan J. Breitenbach, P.E.
AB Engineering Inc., Littleton, Colorado, USA

Part 1 summarized rockfill placement and compaction guidelines for mine structures, including dams and structure
foundations. Part 2 provided an historical perspective to rockfill dam construction. Part 3 for this article defines
rockfill versus earthfill materials. The terms “rockfill” and “earthfill” are commonly used in the geotechnical engineering
profession, but the transition between the two types of fill, to this author’s knowledge, has not been accurately
defined to the present day.
An earthfill material with various mixtures of clay, silt, sand or fine-grained gravel sizes is well defined by the Unified
Soil Classification System (ASTM D-2487-00). As larger sized rock fragments are added to an earthfill, at some
point the “earthfill” becomes a “rockfill” with predominantly coarse-grained gravel, cobble and boulder sized rock
fragments. A review of past rockfill definitions and suggested upper and lower rock fragment size boundary limits
are presented in this article for compacted rockfills.

INTRODUCTION pneumatic rubber-tired rollers. The single rock dump lifts,

Modern day rockfill dam construction must rely heavily
on past experiences for guidance pertaining to the
placement and compaction of large rock fragments in a
compacted fill structure. Special rock equipment and
procedures are required for rock borrow development,
hauling, placing, and compacting to produce a stable and
acceptable engineered fill structure. The conventional
earthfill test methods for controlling lift thickness,
gradation, moisture content, and compaction are not
applicable to rockfills and must be modified to a site
specific compactive effort specification using test fills and
large vibratory roller compactors. This article presents a
suggested definition of rockfill versus earthfill material.
Typical rockfill and earthfill materials in stockpiles, waste
dumps and fills are shown on Photos 1 to 4.
HISTORIC DEFINITION OF ROCKFILL MATERIAL
Early Rockfill Classification
In 1952, the United States Bureau of Reclamation (USBR)
and the Corps of Engineers (COE), with Professor Arthur
Casagrande as consultant, developed the Unified Soil
Classification System (USCS). This classification system
is used extensively world-wide to the present day for soils,
but excludes rock particles larger than the 3 inch (76.2
mm) square mesh screen size.
In a 1960 symposium on rockfill dams sponsored by the
American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), a rockfill
dam was defined as “one that relies on rock either
dumped in the lifts or compacted in layers as a major
structural element.” Rockfills at that time were either
placed in a single thick lift without compaction or placed
in typical 3 to 5 feet (0.9 to 1.5 m) thick lifts and compacted
by dozer tracks or large non-vibrating steel drum and
typically of the order of 35 to 165 feet (11 to 50 m) in
height, were generally flooded with water at two to four
times the rock volume to consolidate the fill to about 85
percent of its total self-weight settlement. Limited
information was available at that time on defining rock
sizes for use in rockfill construction or establishing
engineered procedures for placement and compaction.
Large-scale in-place bulk gradations were not performed
on the rock dump fills, and the gradation limit between
rockfills and earthfills remained undefined.
In 1963, Sherard et al, published Earth and Earth-Rock
Dams, which classified dams primarily constructed of
rockfill with thin clay cores as “earth-rock” dams. The
term “rockfill dam” described embankments constructed
wholly of rockfill materials with an upstream impervious
facing.
Visual Rock Gradation Estimates
Visual rock gradation estimates were conducted by the
engineers in the field using measured grid patterns or
other types of visual aids for determining maximum,
average and minimum rock sizes. The rock fragment
sizes were estimated either by volume or by weight.
The visual gradation estimates were generally not used
in early rock dump dam construction, where the large
rock fragments in the thick loose lifts were physically
impractical to test. In addition to variations in the quarried
large rock borrow material sizes, the rock dump fill
material sizes varied from top to bottom on the advancing
dump slopes due to material segregation. Rock
segregation occurred along the front face of the
advancing rock dump lifts with the larger rock fragments
rolling to the bottom of the relatively high lifts. The
segregation of fine rock material sizes at the top to coarse

Volume 1 v No. 1 v January 2012

 Definition of Rockfill versus Earthfill Material
Photo 1 - Segregated Earthfill at Top and Rockfill at Bottom
of Ore Stockpile
rock material sizes at the bottom of the thick lifts made it
difficult to determine a representative gradation size for
the overall rockfill lift thickness. Examples of rock
segregation on stockpile and fill slopes can be seen in
Photos 1 and 2, respectively.
Large rock fragments were also used for dam
embankment upstream slope protection and spillway
channels. Selective borrow rock quality and sizing in
combination with controlled placement of thinner fill lifts
made visual gradation estimates for these type of less
segregated rockfill structures more approximate.
The visual gradation estimates by volume were generally
specified as the largest and smallest permissable rock
fragment sizes in cubic yards or cubic feet (cubic meters).
The visual gradation estimates by weight were generally
specified as D85, D50 and D15 sizes representing the rock
size by dry weight passing 85, 50 and 15 percent of the
total rock sample dry weight, respectively. As an
example, the D50 size represents the estimated rock
fragment size at which half of the total sample dry weight
is larger or smaller than the rock size determined by
visual gradation estimates or by large-scale bulk
gradation testing as 50%.
The transition from rock dumps to compacted rockfills
reduced the lift thickness and limited the maximum rock
fragment size allowable for controlled lift placement and
compaction. By the late 1950’s the more controlled rockfill
lifts made it possible to physically conduct large-scale
gradation tests on the compacted rockfills.
Early Rockfill Gradation Tests
By the late 1950’s, rock dump construction in thick lifts
was changing to thinner rockfill lifts leveled by dozers for
tracking the surface or for loaded haul truck and heavy
rubber-tired roller compaction. The earliest reported
large-scale rockfill gradation tests were being conducted
on these type of rockfills by 1959.
9
Photo 2 - Earthfill and Rockfill Placed in Controlled Fill Lift
Thickness
In 1963 and 1964, the Corps of Engineers first
experimented with vibratory roller compactors on test fills
at Cougar Dam, a 445 feet (136 m) high earth and rockfill
dam near Eugene, Oregon. Large-scale bulk gradation
tests were conducted along with other testing to evaluate
the performance of the compactors. Prior to this time
period, a limited mount of large-scale gradations had been
performed on other rockfill dams.
The large-scale test fill gradations for the first time
established a basis for defining rockfill materials
according to measured rock fragment screen sizes, rather
than by visual estimations. The large-scale screen mesh
gradations are significant from the standpoint that
geotechnical engineers, from this author’s experience,
have a tendency to over estimate the visual size of rock
fragments in a rockfill. As an example, an elongated rock
fragment can be more than 12 inches (0.3 m) in length
and yet pass through a 6 inch by 6 inch (0.15 m by 0.15
m) square mesh screen opening, therefore classifying
the fragment as a minus 6 inch (0.15 m) rock fragment.
Another error that commonly occurs in visual rockfill
gradation estimates is to under estimate the percentage
of large rock fragment sizes to small earthfill particle sizes
by dry weight passing a given screen size. A rockfill can
appear visually to have a larger percentage of clay, silt,
sand or fine to medium grained gravel earthfill materials
versus larger coarse gravel, cobble and boulder rockfill
sizes. However, if a large-scale gradation test is
conducted on a bulk sample of the material, the test
results by dry weight passing the various square mesh
screen sizes will generally show a larger percentage of
rockfill to earthfill materials, when compared to the visual
estimate.
USBR Rock Definition
In 1968, the USBR published the Earth Manual, which
further defined cobble and boulder rock particles as
follows: “Rounded particles are called cobbles, if they
Volume 1 v No. 1 v January 2012
10 INCOLD Journal
are between 3 and 12 inches (0.07 to 0.30 m) in size,
and boulders, if they are greater than 12 inches (0.30 m)
in size. Angular particles above 3 inches (0.07 m) in size
are classified as rock fragments.” No further distinction
was made about the rock fragment quality or gradation
required for defining rockfill structures. From this author’s
experience, the “cobble” definition is commonly used by
engineers to the present day for defining both rounded
and angular rock fragments falling within the 3 to 12 inch
(0.07 to 0.30 m) square mesh size range.
The term “rock fragment” is defined for this article as any
rock (rounded to angular in shape) retained on the ¾
inch (19 mm) square mesh screen size.
SUGGESTED DEFINITION FOR ROCKFILL
MATERIALS
Upper Rock Fragment Limit for Compacted
Rockfills
From the original rockfill dams in the 1850’s to the present
day, it appears that rockfills have been loosely defined
by the engineering community as predominantly rock
fragment materials larger than gravel sizes containing
some sand and gravel and minimal fines (silt and clay
sizes).
Rock dump fills constructed by massive lift thickness
placement generally had no limit on the maximum rock
fragment size. The largest rock fragment in rock dumps
was the largest rock size that the available construction
equipment could move and dump in the fill by large
loaders, haul trucks and draglines. The largest rock
fragment sizes shown in Photo 3 at the downhill toe of
the 400 feet ( 60 m) high dump were in the range of 8 to
12 feet (2.4 to 3.7 m) rock fragment sizes. The blasted
rock fragment rubble shown in Photo 4 contained rock
fragments larger than 20 feet (6 m) at the downhill toe of
the dump slope.
Photo 3 – Predominantly Earthfill Waste Dump with Boulders
at Downhill Toe
Volume 1 v No. 1 v January 2012
Rock dump fill construction for large dams essentially
ended by 1965 in favor of compacted rockfills, where
rock materials were placed in thinner controlled lifts for
compaction by heavy rollers. This limited the maximum
allowable rock fragment sizes within the compacted
rockfills to where any over sized rocks greater than the
lift thickness were raked or dozed to the downstream
slope outside of the roller compacted rockfill limits.
With the development of vibratory steel drum compactors
in the last 40 years, rockfill dams are now constructed in
controlled lift thickness placement, typically less than 5
feet (1.5 m) in loose lift thickness, and compacted with a
determined number of passes by conventional vibratory
compactor rollers. With the development of large rock
haul trucks in recent years capable of hauling more than
240 tons (218 tonnes) of mined rock material, the
comparable lift thickness for loaded rubber-tired haul
truck compaction can approach 10 feet (3 m) in depth.
The greater depth of rockfill compaction requires more
control of moisture conditioning and a followup large-
scale density test in test fills to confirm the effective depth
of compaction.
The maximum target rock fragment size in past practice
from this author’s experience has been 2/3 of the
maximum loose lift thickness with some allowance for
larger rocks that do not protrude from the rockfill lift.
Therefore, the upper limit of rock fragment size for
compacted rockfills is controlled by the lift thickness and
available construction equipment at a general range of 2
to 5 feet (0.6 to 1.5 m) in rockfill loose lift thickness with
the use of conventional vibratory steel drum compaction
equipment. The upper limit of rock fragment size
increases at a general range of 5 to 10 feet (1.5 to 3 m)
in rockfill loose lift thickness with the use of large loaded
rock haul trucks for rubber-tired compaction.
Applying the “2/3 lift height rule of thumb” for the upper
rock fragment limit is recommended to minimize the
potential for zones of less compaction around the flanks
of the larger rock fragments.
Lower Rock Fragment Limit for Compacted
Rockfills
The transition from earthfill to rockfill materials for
geotechnical engineers is readily defined as the point at
which standard field and laboratory soils testing methods
are no longer applicable to earthfill soils that contain
excessive rock fragments.
The American Standards for Testing Materials (ASTM)
defines the upper rock limit for determining laboratory
maximum dry density and optimum moisture content of
soil materials as no more than 30 percent of the sample
retained by dry weight on a 3/4 inch (19 mm) square
mesh sieve size. Rock correction procedures and
 Definition of Rockfill versus Earthfill Material
compaction methods are specified for determining the
measured field and laboratory soil densities (ASTM D-
698 and D-1557) for the oversized rock fragments up to
the 30 percent rock limit.
Fills with rock fragment content above the 30 percent
limit are generally controlled by large-scale rock test fills
to establish placement and compactive effort procedures,
discussed in Part 4 of this series of rockfill articles.
Based on established ASTM field and laboratory test
standards, the lower rock fragment limit for defining
rockfills versus earthfills is suggested to be defined as
in-place granular fills with a minimum of 30 percent by
dry weight of clean rock fragments retained on the 3/4
inch (19 mm) sieve screen size. The definition of the
rockfill lower limit is also suggested to limit the fine particle
size to contain less than 15 percent silt and clay materials
passing the No. 200 (0.074 mm) sieve size. This fine
particle limitation is required from past observations and
experience for maintaining a high strength granular rock-
to-rock skeleton structure conducive to drainage and
vibratory compaction efficiency. The reduction in fines
content also allows compaction by large loaded haul
trucks without rutting of the wetted fill surface.
Rock fragments that break down to finer material sizes
during excavation, placement, and compaction, and
are below the defined lower rock fragment limits, are
considered to be earthfills amenable to standard soil
testing procedures and laboratory compaction
methods.
Rockfill Gradation Limitations
Gradations for rockfill fragments are based on dry weight
square mesh screen size openings, similar to gradation
sieve sizes for earthfill particles (ASTM D-422). For
example, an 8 inch (0.2 m) maximum rock size refers to
all rock passing through an 8 inch by 8 inch (0.2 m by 0.2
m) square mesh screen opening.
Clean rock materials retained on the 3/4 inch (19 mm)
sieve can be oven or air-dried rock fragments. A clean
rock fragment refers to rock retained on the sieve after
hand rubbing or washing to remove clay balls and sand,
silt, and clay-sized particles that adhere to the rock
fragment surface.
In the borderline case of weathered rock materials
susceptible to breakdown during screening, clean rock
is suggested to be defined as intact dry rock fragments
remaining on the square mesh screen after hand rubbing
to remove finer soil particles that become attached during
rock borrow and fill placement operations.
SUMMARY
The terms “rockfill” and “earthfill” are commonly used in
the geotechical engineering profession, but the transition
11
Photo 4 – Predominantly Rockfill Waste Dump from Top to
Bottom of Slope
between the two types of fill, to this author’s knowledge,
has not been accurately defined to the present day.
The historic definition of rockfill material was primarily
limited to visual estimates by volume or weight. Early
rockfill dam construction by rock dump techniques
allowed rock segregation to occur on advancing thick
rock dump lifts. No known gradation tests were performed
for these type of fills due to the physical rock size
limitations and the variation in thick fill lift gradations from
the top to bottom of the advancing fill slope surface due
to segregation.
The construction practice for rockfill dams changed in
the late 1950’s to thinner controlled lift placement and
compaction by conventional dozer and roller equipment.
Vibratory roller compaction was adopted in the early
1960’s to the present day. The controlled rockfill lifts for
compaction allowed the start of large-scale gradation
testing in 1959 to confirm visual gradation estimates.
The suggested definition for rockfill materials includes
an upper and lower rock fragment limit. The upper rock
fragment limit is defined by the allowable loose lift
thickness for adequate compaction using conventional
vibratory rollers or large loaded haul truck rollers for
rubber-tired compaction. The target maximum rock
fragment size for rockfills is suggested to be 2/3 of the
maximum loose lift thickness with some allowance for
larger rock fragments, as long as the rock fragment does
not protrude from the lift and hinder compaction.
The lower rock fragment limit is defined as the point at
which standard field and laboratory soils testing methods
are no longer applicable to earthfill materials that contain
excessive rock fragments. This earthfill soil limit is defined
by ASTM test methods as no more than 30 percent of
the sample retained by dry weight on a ¾ inch (19 mm)
square mesh sieve size. The definition of the rockfill lower
limit is also suggested to limit the fine particle size to
contain less than 15 percent silt and clay materials
Volume 1 v No. 1 v January 2012
12 INCOLD Journal
passing the No. 200 (0.074 mm) sieve size. This fine
particle limitation is required from past observations and
experience for maintaining a high strength granular rock-
to-rock skeleton structure conducive to drainage and
vibratory compaction efficiency. The reduction in fines
content also allows compaction by large loaded haul
trucks without rutting of the wetted fill surface.
REFERENCES
American Society for Testing and Materials; 1978, Standard
Test Methods for Moisture-Density Relations of Soils and Soil-
Aggregate Mixtures, ASTM.
Volume 1 v No. 1 v January 2012
Pope, R. J., 1966, “Evaluation of Cougar Dam Embankment
Performance”, ASCE Soil Mechanics and Foundations Division
Conference, Berkeley, CA; ASCE, New York.
Sherard, J. L., Woodward, R. J., Gizienski, S. F., and
Clevenger, W. A, 1963, Earth and Earth-Rock Dams, Wiley,
London.
Soil Mechanics and Foundations Division Conference, 1966,
“Stability and Performance of Slopes and Embankments”
Proceedings of the ASCE, Berkeley, Califorina, ASCE, New
York.
United States Department of the Interior, Bureau of
Reclamation, 1968, Earth Manual, Water Resources Technical
Publication, Denver, Colorado.
 13

IDENTIFICATION, MITIGATION AND MANAGEMENT OF

RISKS IN HYDROPOWER PROJECTS

Rajeev Vishnoi
THDC India Ltd., Rishikesh
Abstract : Hydro projects are complex infrastructure projects and it is common for disputes to arise between the
developer and the contractor. If these disputes are not efficiently addressed and resolved, it can lead to delays in
project implementation and higher costs. At the same time, the risks occurring during construction may provide the
opportunities which need to be exploited. Indian hydropower projects in particular, have suffered significant time
and cost overruns as a result of disputes between developers and contractors. Primary reasons for these disputes
are the inadequate technical information and ambiguous allocation of risks in the conventional contract documents.
This article presents in brief the criteria followed in identifying the risks, assigning the risks to the party competent
to handle the risk, assessing the probability of occurrence of risk and formation of the Risk Matrix for a hydro
project.

1. INTRODUCTION the excavations. If the actual geotechnical conditions

Large quantum of underground works are generally
involved in any hydro project principally for constructing
big size de-silting chambers, long head race tunnel and
tail race tunnel, surge shafts and underground power
house complex etc. besides construction of a large
network of construction/maintenance access tunnels. As
the site geology is complex and restricted site
investigations could only be possible due to the difficult
terrain, geological surprises may occur during the
execution of project which would involve certain risks at
different stages of the project viz., planning, design and
construction stage. These risks have direct implication
on the project both in terms of the time and cost overrun.
Risks are the intrinsic part of the hydro projects as there
are several uncertainties which may arise and impact
the execution process. Suboptimal allocation of risks
between owners and contractors has been at the core of
contract disputes in India that have plagued hydropower
projects in the past, leading to significant cost and time
overruns. For the purpose, a detailed Risk Register needs
to be prepared that appropriately allocates risk to the
parties to the contract who will be best able to assess,
cost and manage that risk. Allocation of various risks
during the design & execution of the project is provided
in the risk register, which shall be a part of the contract
document. Another significant document is a Geo-
technical Baseline Report (GBR), an essential component
for the execution of hydropower projects in India.
The GBR improves significantly the geo-technical
information that is made available to bidders, thus
reducing the potential for disputes. GBR is a part of the
contract document which describes the conditions
expected to be encountered during tunnel construction
and other rock excavations. It represents the Employer’s
best judgment of geotechnical conditions anticipated in
encountered during the execution differ from those
specified in GBR, then the Contractor shall be paid in
accordance with provisions of the contract.
2. PROPOSED PHILOSOPHY OF RISK MANAGE-
MENT AND RESPONSIBILITY FRAMEWORK
‘Risk’ has been defined as the combination of the
consequence (or severity) of a ‘hazard’ and its likelihood,
i.e., Risk is a function of the consequence / severity of a
hazard and the likelihood of occurrence of the hazard.
Risk management is matter of thinking and not of writing
or prescribing. While carrying out the formal Risk
management during various stages of hydro project,
possible hazards have to be identified and an evaluation
has to be carried out regarding their potential impact and
probability of occurrence together with the response or
strategies as appropriate for preventive and contingent
actions and responsibilities etc. Risk assessment
required at each stage of the project is summarized in
Risk Register which shall be a part of the contract
document. Risk register shall be updated regularly during
project execution as per the mutual agreement between
employer and contractor.
For assigning the responsibility of an identified risk either
to the Contractor or Employer, the basic philosophy that
may be considered is that hydraulic and geotechnical
designs of various structures carry most uncertainties
during the pre-construction and during construction
stages. It may therefore, be considered that hydraulic
and geo-technical designs shall be carried out by the
Employer and the Employer shall be responsible for all
the matters related to these aspects. The structural and
detailed design shall be carried out by the Contractor
and therefore all risks associated with this shall be borne
by the Contractor.

Volume 1 v No. 1 v January 2012

14 INCOLD Journal
3. RISKS CATEGORIES
Current risk management practices in developed
countries particularly production of a risk register for
underground works, is the modern innovative approach
being followed at various projects. Research by Experts
indicated that there is substantial variation of practice in
this regard. It is now quite common in developed
countries, but objectives and scope can be very different.
Main objective of risk management exercise would be:
(a) to establish the main risk areas specific to carrying
out a hydroelectric project in upland areas; (b) for these
risk areas, where possible indicate the probability of
occurrence (to conform with the GBR); (c) outline
measures to be taken by the Contractor to mitigate risk;
and (d) establish allocation of risk to the various parties.
The ultimate objective is to clarify risk allocation and avoid
contractual disputes.
Hydropower projects like other large infrastructure
projects face its own challenges. These include various
technical, financial, social and environmental risks.
Managing these risks are of paramount importance in
delivering successful projects and identification of these
risks early in the project cycle will help the situation. The
paramount issue is the classification of the risk which
need to be done in the most simplified manner as
sophisticated mathematical methods give an unrealistic
accuracy and may lead to wrong conclusions.
Technical Risks : Most significant risks are the Technical
risks in hydropower projects because of the substantial
exposure of such projects to the forces of nature
throughout the construction and (to a lesser extent)
operation phases. Technical risks are therefore, likely to
be substantially larger than for example, a thermal power
plant where a large proportion of the plant is constructed
in a factory or for a highway built over flat terrain.
The risks tend to be more pronounced with small
hydropower projects since they tend to be located in
upper areas of the catchment which have steeper
topography, intense rainfall and rapidly rising river levels.
These risks, which are already significant for large
projects, are magnified for small projects, since potential
damages constitute a much larger share of overall costs.
Moreover, small projects are more likely to involve tunnels
and underground works are generally much more risky
than civil works constructed at the surface.
Slope Instability Risks : Many of the risks are in relation
to slope instability. Typically, in steep terrain, there can
be deep weathering of rock which gradually progresses
with time such that many steep slopes are in marginal
equilibrium meaning that they may fail at any time under
the influence of heavy rain, earthquake or undercutting
by construction activities. Slope failure in the following
Volume 1 v No. 1 v January 2012
areas may considerably influence construction schedule
and costs:
• Access roads : Construction of access roads often
involves undercutting of steep slopes resulting in
failures particularly in the rainy season. Failures
during the construction period can delay construction
for weeks or even months. In operation, the
consequences may be less but still significant.
• Slopes above project works : These may include
slopes above dam, intake, headrace channel,
penstock, powerhouse, tailrace and switchyard.
Typically, the site of the dam and power intake is
located in the narrowest section of a river, which
usually means the steepest terrain. The risk of a
slide onto the dam and intake structure is often quite
high and will be exacerbated by undercutting during
construction. The impact of slope failures both during
construction and operation can be serious both in
terms of construction delays and lost production
during the operating period. There are similar
(although possibly lesser) risks associated with the
other structures.
• Penstocks on steep slopes : There are risks
associated with locating penstocks on steep slopes.
Even if the foundation is on rock, if the slope is in
marginal equilibrium, there can be a risk of a large
slope failure during the operating phase taking out a
section of the penstock with potentially devastating
consequences.
• Sliding into the reservoir : This will result in lost
storage volume and may result in a large surge of
silt laden water which can destroy project works
(dams, intakes, and power stations) and potentially
result in downstream damage including loss of life.
Risks can be alleviated to some extent in design and
construction stages. During the design stage, targeted
investigations can identify problem areas, structures can
be relocated where appropriate, and stabilization
measures designed. During construction, risks can be
lessened through proper excavation planning aimed at
creating stable slopes, controlled blasting and slope
stabilization measures. These measures will usually
increase costs but on balance will usually be worthwhile.
Underground Excavation Risks : Such risks are generally
considered to be much larger than for surface
excavations, although this is probably an over-
simplification. In favourable geological conditions,
construction of small tunnels by an experienced
contractor is straightforward. For small hydropower
projects, large caverns for underground powerhouses,
de-silting chambers etc are unlikely to be present and
tunnels are usually quite small in diameter. Therefore,
much depends on geological conditions. The rate at which
 Identification, Mitigation and Management of Risks in Hydropower Projects
tunnel excavation can be advanced is very much
dependant on rock conditions and the type of temporary
support required. Tunnelling rates might vary from 150
meters per month down to say 10 meters per month in
heavily faulted water laden ground. In addition, under
certain conditions large water inflows may be
encountered and occasionally very high temperatures.
Both of these conditions require special driving and
support measures which substantially affect tunnelling
time and costs. Of particular concern are tunnels in karstic
ground where large water inflows and very large solution
cavities may be encountered. Perhaps the main problem
is geological uncertainty associated with underground
excavations. With a dam, one can drill several
exploratory holes and obtain quite a good coverage of
the dam site area. This can also apply for a surface
powerhouse. However, for a tunnel the most that one
could expect is a few holes along a tunnel alignment
which are of little use except in very uniform geologic
conditions. Underground powerhouses are usually
located deep underground such that it is difficult to reach
their location with drill holes. Therefore, engineers and
geologists have to rely to a large extent on painstaking
geological mapping at the surface which is the projected
underground. This gives some idea of conditions along
a tunnel or at a powerhouse but with much less precision
than with surface structures.
Risks can be alleviated to some extent with adequate
site investigations. However, because tunnels often
extend over considerable lengths, it is impractical to
investigate the entire length by drilling. It is usually
necessary to place considerable trust on detailed surface
geological mapping supplemented by limited drilling.
Specialist geologists are able to project surface geology
to the tunnel alignment and make predictions as to what
conditions will be encountered along its length. The
design team, including experienced geotechnical and
tunnelling engineers, is then able to design the tunnel
taking into account the predicted geological conditions.
Design measures that can be taken to alleviate risks
include: provision of intermediate access adits so that
the tunnel can be drilled from several faces concurrently;
drilling from downstream to upstream so that ground
water inflows will drain from the tunnel by gravity.
Appropriate support designs for various classes of rock
can be specified including special support measures and
construction techniques for very poor rock. Measures that
can be taken during construction include: (a) supporting
the tunnel immediately after excavation preventing
relaxation of stresses which can cause failure; (b) drilling
ahead of the tunnel face to identify potential water inflows
and grout these areas before excavation; (c) installing
some support ahead of the excavation (usually referred
to as fore-poling).
15
Hydrological risk during construction: Unlike most civil
engineering construction, hydropower construction
involves building important structures adjacent to rivers
and in the riverbed itself. Therefore the river needs to be
diverted to allow the construction to proceed. In designing
diversion works, it is necessary to choose a design flood
for design of diversion works. This implies taking a
calculated risk balancing the cost of the diversion works
against potential loss if the design flood is exceeded.
Hydrological risk during operation : There are two types
of hydrological risks. Firstly, the risk of overestimation
of long term flows. With good records and rigorous
design, this risk can be minimised. Secondly, even if
estimates of long term flow are reliable there can be
substantial variation from year to year. Unless the project
has a very large storage (which is very rare in small
hydropower projects), there is nothing that can be done
to control this variation. However, with the avoided cost
power pricing methodology, it is possible to reduce the
magnitude of revenue fluctuations if the project has some
storage. The storage allows energy production in the
dry season to be concentrated into the peaking and
shoulder period when prices for power and energy are
highest. Therefore, any shortfall in flow is likely to only
affect the quantity of lower value off peak energy
produced. While such measures will reduce the impact
of flows lower than average, drought scenarios need to
be investigated and input into risk management models.
Designer’s or Contractor’s incompetence : In both the
cases, there is a very substantial risk. Because of the
risk profile and because designs are site specific, design
of hydropower plants requires well qualified designers
with substantial experience in the field. Similarly, while
the construction risks identified above can be easily
handled by a contractor with adequate resources and
experience, they can present insurmountable difficulties
to an inexperienced contractor with inadequate
resources.
Non Technical Risks : The above discussion has focused
on technical risks since these are particularly relevant
for large hydropower projects. However, there are also
non-technical risks which may be even more important
than technical risks in some instances. These include
(but are not necessarily limited to) the following:
Financial Risks : These are particularly important for
hydropower because of the capital intensive nature of
the projects. For a thermal power project capital charges,
may only be a small proportion (as low as 10%) of overall
annual costs. However, in a hydropower project, capital
charges may be in the order of 90% of overall annual
costs. Therefore, any effect on capital cost has an almost
similar effect on annual costs. The potential effect on
costs of technical risks has been outlined above.
Volume 1 v No. 1 v January 2012
16 INCOLD Journal
However, there are other factors such as:
• Cost Escalation Risks : This aspect is of renewed
importance in India with higher levels of inflation now
emerging after many years of price stability. The best
defence against inflation is to receive bids for main
works and equipment before final decision to proceed
is made. The fastest possible construction schedule
(facilitated by a very experienced contractor) will then
minimize the difference between base cost and final
cost.
• Interest Rate Risks : In the current environment of
rising and floating interest rates, these risks can be
particularly important for hydropower projects.
• Market Risks : Again hydropower projects are more
susceptible than thermal power projects if the
expected market does not materialize since the fixed
costs constitute such a large proportion of total costs.
• Power Price Risks : Up until the present, agreement
of an appropriate PPA has been a major hurdle to
developing a hydropower project. If power prices will
change regularly posing a risk for developers, there
should be a provision for the developer to cap the
risk of falling power prices provided he also accepts
a cap on rising power prices. It will be important for
developers and their bankers to carefully consider
and evaluate strategies in this area.
• Political Risks : There may be political risk involved
in the regulatory process through which the process
is approved. Hydropower projects may be especially
prone to such risks.
• Environmental Risks : There may be real
environmental risks in developing the project. These
are more likely to arise in the planning phases if field
studies disclose factors resulting in cancellation of
the project. The risk should diminish after approval
of the Environmental Assessment and Environmental
Management Plan. There is of course the risk of
project disruption because of political lobbying by
environmental activists. These risks can probably
better be categorized as political risks. The best
defence against such risks are well prepared
environmental studies and a developer committed
to best practice environmental management
practices.
• Social Risks : Hydropower projects, particularly
those involving reservoirs of any size, are likely to
require significant land acquisition and sometimes
resettlement. These activities become increasingly
difficult as expectations are raised by generous
compensation packages for larger projects. The best
defence against potential difficulties in this area is
an enlightened policy for compensation and benefit
sharing, encouraging an attitude among local
Volume 1 v No. 1 v January 2012
communities that they are partners in project
development.
The above list of risks is not necessarily exhaustive.
Particular projects may have other site specific risks such
as security, safety etc. These need to be identified and
addressed adequately.
4. CONCLUSION
Hydro projects are to be executed under a complex set
of site conditions and therefore, management of all
categories of risks is essentially required in order to timely
complete the project within the allocated financial
resources. Risk is the product of likelihood of an event
occurring and the severity of any consequences and
severity is a contextual matter. Adoption of risk
management is now-a-days becoming an industry
requirement. However, the perceptions like ‘risks happen
to other people’, ‘things cannot go wrong’, ‘things can’t
be that bad’ and ‘things can’t really get that bad’ are typical
and still in reality. Risk management therefore, first
requires realism before really practicing it.
Risk matrix prepared for the hydro project is to be included
in the contract document so that there is no speculation
on the part of the bidders at the time of bidding. The risks
are clearly allocated and the mitigation measures are
specified. Management of various categories of risks
involved at different stages of the hydro project is to be
planned to be carried out through a well defined
mechanism in the contract document at tender stage and
in the agreement at construction stage. Risk management
is a continuous process and hence risk register shall be
updated regularly during project execution as per the
mutual agreement between employer and contractor.
Risk register shall be a part of the contract document.
This together with GBR and BOQ shall supplement the
risk management mechanism.
Risk register for the hydro project has to be specific to
that project. However, a standard list can be helpful as a
checklist. Contractors, design engineers, site supervision
and experts shall according to the project phase be
involved in the ‘Comprehensive Risk Management’
process.
REFERENCES
(i) Central Board of Irrigation & Power. Tunnel
construction in India – current status and future task.
Presentation to World Tunnelling Congress, ITA,
Agra, 2008
(ii) Central Electricity Authority. Guidelines for
formulation of detailed project reports for hydro
electric schemes, their acceptance and examination
for concurrence. January 2007.
 Identification, Mitigation and Management of Risks in Hydropower Projects 17

(iii) ASCE. Geotechnical baseline reports for
underground construction. American Society of Civil
Engineers, 1997.
(iv) ASCE. Geotechnical baseline reports for
underground construction – Suggested guidelines.
American Society of Civil Engineers, 2007
(v) British Tunnelling Society. The joint code of practice
for risk management of tunnel works in the UK.
British Tunnelling Society & Association of British
Insurers, 2003
(vi) Tait J, Delmar R, Charalambu H, Everdell R. Design/
build agreement for the Niagara tunnel project.
Rapid Excavation & Tunnelling Conf Proc. 2007.
(vii) US Committee on Tunnelling Technology. Better
contracting for underground construction. National
Academy of Sciences, Washington, DC, 1974.
(viii) World Bank. Emerging Issues in Hydropower
Planning and Development in Himalayan Basins.
Post-Workshop Note on Priorities. Delhi, March
2007.
(ix) International Tunnelling Insurance Group. A code
of practice for risk management of tunnel works.
International Tunnelling Association & International
Association of Engineering Insurers, 2006.
(x) Draft Project Appraisal Document of Vishnugad
Pipalkoti HEP, India.

BIOGRAPHICAL DETAILS OF THE AUTHOR

Rajeev Vishnoi, BE(Hons), DPU(Moscow State University)
Career span of approximately 25 years of Rajeev Vishnoi has been solely dedicated to the core activities of hydro
power sector only. He started with an almost 10 years stint in ‘design and engineering’ of dam and spillways for
260m high Tehri project and was responsible for elaborating the hydraulic and structural designs of these structures.
He later had an opportunity to work on construction of spillways and power house complex for Tehri project for next
6 years where he was responsible for the construction methodology, execution and quality monitoring.
For the last 9 years, he is heading the technical operations for the hydro projects being developed by THDC.
Activities include design and construction of Koteshwar (100m high concrete dam), design and construction of
pumped storage station (1000 MW) at Tehri, development of basic design and preparation of tender document of
Vishnugad-Pipalkoti hydro project (444 MW), monitoring the vital technical parameters for all the components of
Tehri (260.5 m high earth and rockfill dam) and investigations/DPR preparation of five hydro projects in India and
Bhutan.
He was also instrumental in designing the distinct tender document for Vishnugad-Pipalkoti project which included
the concept of ‘Risk Sharing’ between the owner and the contractor. The Geotechnical Baseline Report was also
prepared for this project in association with Dr Laurie Richards. He is a standing member of Technical Committee
for writing the Standards in the field of hydro projects in India and a visiting faculty to hydro training organizations in
India and Singapore. He represents India in one of the Technical Committees of ICOLD.

Volume 1 v No. 1 v January 2012

18 INCOLD Journal

HYDROPOWER DEVELOPMENT IN INDIA : NEED OF

COMMITMENT AND SYNERGY
Satish Kumar Sharma
Moserbaer India Limited, New Delhi

Hydropower, in addition being renewable, economical, non-polluting and environmentally benign source of energy,
also have the inherent ability for instantaneous starting, stopping, load variations, etc. and help in improving reliability
of the power system. Furthermore, there is no escalation in cost during the life of the station as it utilises water as
source for generation which is non inflationary in nature. The need for its accelerated development also comes from
its capability of enhanced system reliability and economics of utilization of resources with lowering cost of generation
over a period of time. Despite of having so many advantages of hydropower, actual capacity addition and growth of
hydropower projects is meagre. Although in India, allotment of hydro projects are being done under faster and
speedy manner to public sector undertakings and private developers, yet actual growth in capacity addition is way
behind than the allotment of projects by government to project developers. This can be attributed to:
• Forfeiture of large number of hydro projects due to the financial as well as technical non-feasibility that arise
because of lack of reliable data availability and over demanding competitive bidding quotations,
• Halting of Project in development stage due to various administration bottlenecks like clearances and R & R
issues,
• Problem of sufficient finance arrangement because of higher gestation period and long loan repayment
period.
Water being State Subject, in addition to detailed power policy formulated by central agencies, state governments
also have their separate policies related to allotment, execution and revenue sharing. Though State Governments
facilitate to nurture the speedy development of hydropower in their respective States, yet, the policy framework of
State requires detailed study and understanding which are putting obstruction on techno-economical feasibility and
speedy execution of hydropower projects.

1. OVERVIEW OF HYDROPOWER IN INDIA potential of the country. At present, the share of

hydropower in the total generating capacity in the country
The total hydroelectric potential in the country is assessed
of 1,56,783.98 MW is about 23.52%, which is much less
as 1, 50,000 MW (above 25 MW). The present installed
than the desired ideal shares of 40%, required for grid
capacity of hydropower in the country is 36,885 MW,
stability.
which amounts to about 24.6% of the total hydropower

Fig. 1: Percentage of Electricity Supply through Hydro1

1. Hydroelectricity, World Hydro Electric Capacity, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydroelectricity

Volume 1 v No. 1 v January 2012

 Hydropower Development in India : Need of Commitment and Synergy 19

Fig. 2 : Annual Production of Hydro Power1

Due to lack of hydro capacity addition, today we are in proper consideration to hydro addition, which will also
bad shape in respect of hydro - thermal energy ratio which create proper balance between peak demand and base
is 28:72 against desired 40:60, which is considered to be load, as hydro projects are best used in peaking load for
ideal for grid stability. We need to improve the mix by giving its nature of spontaneous response to load variation.

Fig-2: Hydropower in Different Five Year Plans2

1. Hydroelectricity, World Hydro Electric Capacity, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydroelectricity

2. Growth of Generation Capacity, Monthly Overview of Power Sector, http://www.cea.nic.in/

Volume 1 v No. 1 v January 2012

20 INCOLD Journal

There is a broad consensus in the Government of India Central Government agencies are largely concentrating
to expand power generation by developing the country’s on mega-hydel projects, the private sector is being also
hydropower potential of which, very less has been roped in to execute unexploited hydel projects. Funding
harnessed so far. For the purpose of hydroelectric for these projects has come in from the World Bank,
development, the river basins have been in principle various State Banks, private banks and financial
categorized into six major groups namely Indus, institutions like IFCI and PFC. A detail given of hydro
Brahmaputra, Ganga, Central Indian Rivers, West power potential in various states reflects that still there
Flowing Rivers and East Flowing Rivers. While State and is huge untapped potential in the country.
Table 1: State wise Hydropower Potential3

Region/State Assessed (MW) In Operation (MW) Under Construction Balance (MW)

Arunachal Pradesh 50328.00 10.50 405.00 49912.50
U.P./Uttaranchal 18898.00 1609.85 3453.00 13835.15
Himachal Pradesh 18820.00 3822.95 1926.00 13071.05
Jammu & Kashmir 14146.00 1394.25 469.00 12282.75
Sikkim 4286.00 84.00 519.00 3683.00
Karnataka 6602.00 2789.40 222.00 3590.60
Meghalaya 2394.00 185.20 0.00 2208.80
Mizoram 2196.00 0.00 60.00 2136.00
M.P./ Chhattisgarh 4485.00 898.50 30.25 1684.25
Kerala 3514.00 1799.50 30.25 1684.25
West Bengal 2841.00 300.50 936.00 1604.50
Manipur 1784.00 105.00 90.00 1589.00
Nagaland 1574.00 75.00 24.00 1475.00
Orissa 2999.00 1837.50 66.00 1095.50

As per the estimates of Central Electricity Authority, Govt. of India, region wise hydropower potential has been
given in Table 2 :
Table 2: Hydropower Potential of India3

Region Principal Features of Hydro Project Pumped Small Hydro

Feasible Installed Potential in billion Storage (Upto 25 MW)
Capacityin MW kWh per year (in MW) (in MW)
Northern 53,405 225 13,065 5,210
Western 8,928 31.4 39,684 2,100
Southern 16,446 61.8 17,750 2,230
Eastern 10,965 42.5 9,125 1,660
North-Eastern 58,956 239.3 16,900 3,330
Total 148,700 600 95,524 14,530

The planned survey and study of hydro potential in India
started way back in 1953 as per the following details:
• First Hydroelectric Survey of India (1953-59) –about
42,000 MW (250 schemes),
• Reassessment of Hydroelectric Potential (1978-87)
– 94,000 MW (845 schemes & 56 pump storage
schemes).
• Reassessment of Hydroelectric Potential (2003) –
150,000 MW.
Even after 50 years of first survey, capacity addition in
hydro has not reached to envisaged potential of 42 GW.
While hydropower holds an important role in the energy
and development strategies of India, such natural
resource based projects are inherently challenging.

3. Monthly Overview of Power Sector, http://www.cea.nic.in/

Volume 1 v No. 1 v January 2012

 Hydropower Development in India : Need of Commitment and Synergy
Environmental and social impacts, potentially both
positive and negative, are inherent. The responsible way
to tackle is to develop a clear understanding of such
impacts, drawing from analytical as well as local
knowledge, and minimize the negative impacts through
appropriate design. Any residual negative impacts should
then be appropriately mitigated and compensated with
ongoing monitoring and adaptive management wherever
necessary. In the past decade, the development of
hydropower in India has substantially paced-up. The
government has ensured that the methodology used by
central power agencies to select sites has to be reviewed
with greater public consultation, better monitoring of
environmental and social aspects of projects,
improvements in resettlement policy and practices.
Impetus is also given to enhance the institutional capacity
related to project identification, engineering and design.
2. GOVERNMENT POLICIES FOR ALLOTMENT AND
PROFIT SHARING
The government of India has taken several policy
initiatives to boost the hydro power generation. Some of
the initiatives are:-
• Policy on hydro power development-1998.
• Policy Liberalisation.
• Electricity Act, 2003 and consequent changes in
Industry Structure.
• National Water Policy- 2005.
• National Electricity Policy.
• National Rehabilitation & Resettlement Policy-
2007.
• Mega Power Projects Policy.
• 50,000 MW Hydroelectric Initiative.
• New Hydro power policy, 2008 etc.
Earlier, the allocation of project followed MOU route
where the tariff was decided on the cost plus methodology
which gave an assured return to the developer. But this
form of tariff setting also lead to non-optimum utilization
of the available resources by the developers as any
increase in the cost of project was passed on to the
beneficiaries .This resulted in the higher cost of power.
In order to overcome the limitations of this methodology
and to bring more competition in hydro power projects
development, Govt. introduced competitive bidding route
for project allotment. As per this route, State government
invites and allocates the hydro projects through
Competitive Biding, on the basis of free power over and
above minimum mandatory royalty fixed by concern state
governments. This pushes the project towards unviable
and unattractive zone. In India normally the financial
Institutions find it difficult to lend long term loans for
21
duration above 12-13 years unlike foreign Financial
Institutions which easily provide loan for period above
15 years. As hydro projects normally require development
phase of 5-6 years and further repayment period of 12-
15 years, it becomes extremely difficult to arrange loan
component for the projects. And the new competitive
bidding route has further increased the financial problem
for the developer as by giving substantial energy of the
net saleable power free to the Government leads to
significant uncertainty of the financial viability of the
project. And also if the developer executes long term PPA,
the cost of free energy offered to government can not be
covered. The developer is left with no other option but to
sell power in short-term market which itself is uncertain
scenario. It is difficult to demonstrate the reliability of
future cash flows for giving comfort to the financiers of
the project. On other side, a power project developed by
other sources of fuel requires less time for development
and there are unlikely natural surprises as compared to
the Hydro projects. Hence the developers are more
inclined towards the development of thermal power
projects .The policies of state government to collect
higher royalty from hydro projects has resulted in
encouraging the development of fossil fuel based energy
generation plants.
2.1 Term of Allotment
Each hydro potential state is having its own set of
procedure and provisions of allotments of hydro projects
in terms of;
- Upfront premium,
- Free Energy (other than specified by CERC),
- Right for equity participation by State
Government up to 49%,
- First Right for Refusal for purchase of electricity
by state govt.
2.2 Royalty
As mentioned above, in India water being a State Subject,
concern government organizations have their different
policies;
(a) Different term and condition of allotment of
projects.
(b) Method of determination of tariff
(c) Royalty structure
(d) Project life (concession period)
(e) Other cess
(f) Local Area Development Fund (LADF)
(g) Local Area Development Committee (LADC)
(h) Catchment Area Treatment (CAT) Plan
(i) Provide Free electricity to local people
(j) Other benefits etc.
Volume 1 v No. 1 v January 2012
22 INCOLD Journal

Present royalty structure as per tariff policy (Central – 1% free saleable energy to Local Area
Electricity Regulatory Commission, CERC) is as below; Development Fund.
– 12% free saleable energy to the State Being electricity on concurrent list of the state govern-
Government and ments, they are also imposing additional royalty over and
above the 13% mandatory royalty, stated by centre:
Table 3 : Royalty Structure of State Governments in India4

Sr. No State Wt. Avg. Royalty Royalty Over the Concession Period (%)
1. Himachal Pradesh 19.20% 12% (1st–12th year of operation);18%(13th–30th year of operation)
& 30% (31st –40th year of operation)
2. Uttaranchal 15.43% 12% (1st–15th year of operation) &18% (Balance period)
3. Sikkim 15.43% 12% (1st – 15th year of operation) &; 18% (16th – 35th year of
operation)
4. Arunachal Pradesh 12.00% 12% (excluding 1% for LADF)
5. J&K 14.57% 15% (6th–15th yr of operation) & 18% (Balance period)

As of now the new projects are allotted on the basis of
the International competitive bidding the qualified bidders
are awarded projects on the basis of the additional
premium paid by the developer to the state govt. This
premium may be in terms of additional free power (over
and above the mandatory free power) or in monetary
terms at the state govt.’s discretion.
2.3 Local Area Development Committees (LADC)
In addition to above, some state government also charges
on account of LADC (Local Area Development
Committee), in terms of percentage of project cost (1.5%
of Total project cost in Himachal Pradesh) this is in
addition to LADF. However, this is applicable to all
projects whether located in remote area or in developed
region. This entails unnecessary expenditure for LADC
by project developer thereby increasing project cost.
Neither the goal nor the modus-operandi is clear even in
the mind of policy developers.
2.4 Green Cess
States like Sikkim, also imposing green cess as 1 paisa
per unit (kWH) of generated energy.
2.5 Catchment Area Treatment (CAT) Plan
Government of Himachal Pradesh issued notification
regarding minimum expenditure under head of CAT plan
is 2.50% of project cost. The arbitrary imposition of such
expenditure post bid, to be borne by project developer
has resulted in increasing the project cost to the point of
un-viability and unfeasibility.
3. ADMINISTRATIVE CHALLENGES
Even after allotment of project developer can not go
ahead with development work of the hydro projects due
to following reasons:
(a) Lengthy and cumbersome process of clearances
on account of number of regulations and
committees.
(b) Difficulties in raising finances for the projects.
(c) Inaccessibility and unavailability of power
evacuation network.
(d) Time lost due to slow Resettlement and
Rehabilitation process.
(e) Hydro projects incurred various risk in
comparison to any other source of energy:
(i) Geological surprise (even well studied
project can face this situation)
(ii) Remotely located position.
There were some major reasons for the slippage from
the targeted hydro capacity during the 10th five year plan.
These were:
1. Land acquisition problems: Land acquisition
is done by the State Government and often gets
delayed due to litigation, poor maintenance of
land records, etc. Further it is time consuming
process which affects the progress of project.
More flexibility should be given to the project
authorities to acquire land. The procedure for
fixation of compensation for land should also be
streamlined.

4. Gou Policies, Business Development and Commercial, UJVNL, http://www.uttarakhandjalvidyut.com/gou_policies.htm

Incentive to the developers, Himachal Pradesh Power Policies,
Power Policies, Government of Sikkim,
Policies, Department of Hydro Power development, Arunachal Pradesh, http://www.arunachalhydro.org.in/policies.html
Taxes and Royalty, Policy, Government of Jammu and Kashmir, http://jkspdc.nic.in/LargeProjects.htm

Volume 1 v No. 1 v January 2012

 Hydropower Development in India : Need of Commitment and Synergy
The Government should amend the Land
Acquisition Act in order to mitigate the problems
encountered while acquiring land. State
governments should be persuaded to provide
land to the project authority in the agreed time
frame to facilitate shifting of project-affected
persons.
2. Resettlement & Rehabilitation problems:
Reservoir schemes require large extents of lands
to be acquired resulting in displacement of
families. The national R&R policy addresses
some of these issues and needs to be modified
for early settlement of issues arising due to
displacement of families.
3. Dam Safety: In view of complexity in
development of hydroelectric projects, particularly
large ones, emanating from dam height, process
of clearances obviously gets linked with multiple
agencies and authorities. Dealing with number
of authorities’ results in delaying project progress
and single window for getting clearances is
recommended to fasten the process of getting
clearances.
4. Law & Order problems: Most hydro projects are
located along the Himalayas. Projects in J&K and
States of the North East face problems on account
of insurgency, terrorists, etc. In such eventualities
insurance policies to cover such risk may not be
enough to compensate the developer and state
government should ensure that such events
should not take place at projects site.
5. Difficult / Inaccessible sites: Much of the
untapped hydro potential is in the remote areas
of the Himalayas for which excess roads running
into over 100 km at a time have to be first
constructed before work can commence. Further,
power would have to be transmitted over long
distances to load centers from these areas
requiring construction of long transmission lines.
The power evacuation system should be first
planned with the coordination with state
authorities before allocating any hydro project
6. Geological Surprises: In the Himalayan
Mountains in particular, geological surprises while
tunneling causes large time and cost overruns.
This results in huge time and cost overruns in
project which make the project unviable. In such
event, the government should facilitate of
developers and provide finance at low cost. It is
essential that state-of-the-art investigation and
construction techniques are adopted to minimize
geological risks as well as the overall gestation
period of hydel projects.
23
Even if, extensive investigation using new
techniques of investigations, are undertaken an
element of uncertainty remains in the sub-surface
geology and the geological surprises during
actual construction can not be ruled out. So, a
margin of safety needs to be ensured.
7. Delays in environment and forest clearances:
The process for getting clearance is cumbersome
and involves inputs from both State and Central
Agencies. The activities for getting environment
and forest clearance should be simplified and
processed faster. There is need to provide single
window clearance for speedy approvals related
to project.
8. Inter-State Aspects: Inter-State water disputes
have come in the way of taking up of many
projects. There should be coordination between
the states before allocating the projects and
developer should not suffer due to such
differences between the states.
9. Funding of hydro power projects: Hydro
projects were funded only by Government
Agencies and hence limited options are available
with the developers. The projects which require
huge cost should be developed with private public
partnership model so that getting funding for these
projects is easier due to involvement of
government in the project.
10. Reliability of Detailed project reports: Lack of
bankable Detailed Project Report of the projects
for development in the private sector before their
allotment makes it very difficult for the private
investors/ developers to take investment
decisions. The developer need to follow the
existing procedure for DPR preparation as per
the policy guidelines. Thorough research and
investigations need to be done in order to
formulate each sub-section of DPR as it would
help in reduction of uncertainties regarding the
project and ensure optimum utilisation of the
available resources.
4. LOGISTIC HURDLES
Some basic reasons providing real hurdle in way are
listed below;
• Poor Infrastructure: Most of the identified sites
for hydro power plants are in remote hilly terrains
which face lack of basic infrastructure such as
transportation links, Residential facilities etc.
which results in the increased Project cost and
time over-run.
• Lack of Centralized Data Bank: There is very
limited availability of the input data (discharge
Volume 1 v No. 1 v January 2012
24 INCOLD Journal

data, Geological and topographical data) for the
development of hydro project because of which
there is always a fear of occurrence of any
unanticipated event like extreme deviation in
water discharge.
• Political Euphoria,
• Poor keenness from Private Players,
government prior to project commissioning. This
will help in techno-economical viability of many
projects.
• To have better, effective and time bound
utilisation, local development (such as LADF,
LADA etc) shall be spend through a collegiums,
wherein project developer has to have major say.

• Shortage of Fund, • There is an urgent need to streamline all the

• Limited Training, R&D And Model Test Facilities,
• Socio-economic Challenges in Specific Areas.
5. CONCLUSION
• There is an urgent need to adopt a common
procedure of project allotment, royalty and other
charges in all state with clear and transparent
policy, rules and regulation of the State
Government for appreciable development of
hydro projects. At the time of project
implementation agreement, roles and
responsibilities of States as a facilitator has to
be clearly defined with demarcated milestones.
• Other than connecting transmission lines, power-
evacuation facilities have to be ensured by
clearances required for the implementation of the
Power Project so that no project despite having
all resources at services, may be halted just
because of delay in clearances and if possible
the respective State Govt. must assist in getting
clearances in least possible time period.
• Long Term Financing (Debt) facilities must be
enhanced as the gestation period of hydropower
projects is longer as compared to the other power
projects.
Our country has huge potential for the hydro
power development. The above mentioned points
will facilitate a conducive environment for the
rapid growth of hydro power generation for
meeting good quality and reliability of hydro power
in near future.

BIOGRAPHICAL DETAILS OF THE AUTHOR

Satish Kumar Sharma {B.Tech, M.Tech (IIT Roorkee), Chartered Engineer}, is working as
Associate Vice President at Moserbaer, New Delhi, India and heading the engineering and
design function. Presently Mr. Sharma is responsible for 120 MW Miyar and 400 MW Seli HEP,
in Lahaul and Spiti Valley, Himachal Pradesh. Having life membership in various institutions, he
has worked with M/s TATA Sons Ltd., M/s Lahmayer International GmbH and M/s Jaiprakash
Associates Ltd. on several medium and Mega Hydropower Projects. Major assignments include
as part of Engineer-in-Charge) for 900 MW Baglihar Hydroelectric Project (J&K, India), as chief
designer for 1000 MW Karcham Wangtoo HEP (Himachal, India), as a chief designer for 48 km
long Sri Selam Water Supply Works (Andhra Pradesh, India) etc. In addition part involvement in
several Mega hydropower projects in Himalayan Peninsula, are also to the credentials. Having over eighteen years
of experience in planning, design and commissioning of major hydropower projects, he has already written and
presented several papers in national and international conferences including ICOLD, and Hydro-vision.

Volume 1 v No. 1 v January 2012

 25

DAM SAFETY: ILLUSION AND REALITY

V.C. Shelke
Consultant and Former Chief Engineer, Koyna Project, Pune, WRD, Government of Maharashtra

ABSTRACT: Water is an important element for origin and development of human life. Therefore it has
special importance. The different civilizations flourished on the banks of rivers are the evidence of the
relationship between water and human being. There is no alternative to water for the existence of human
civilization till today. During the evolution of human being, an attempt to damn the uncontrolled flood is
the first attempt for development. Though the first dam built one thousand years BC is a matter of research,
the existing oldest dam is the world was built 1500 years ago in Spain. In India dam on Cauvery River
built during ‘Choul’ dynasty called as ‘Grand Anicut’ is the first known attempt. This paper describes the
perception of Dam safety as an Illusion and reality. The causes of failure of Dams and analysis of failure
are also described. A novel idea of ‘Dam Insurance’ is also explained at the end.

1.0 DAMS, TYPES AND CATEGORIES
Due to population growth, the number of dams have been
increased fastly, e.g. After World War II, the number of
dams in next twenty years were increased from 5200 to
13000. Dams built in last ten years (1970-80) are 13000.
The population of dams in the some countries (including
large and small dams) is 60,000 in USA, 2,00,000 in
Japan and 1000 large and 1,00,000 small dams in India.
Karnataka is having maximum number of 35000; most
of them are medium, small dams.
According to International Commission on Large Dam
(ICOLD) Register of 1962, the large dams having height
of more than 15m were 9315; however actual number is
much higher than this. Due to some technical norms those
dams have not been included in this list.
Country As Per ICOLD Register As Per Actual
Great Britain 400 2000
North America 2641 28,000
India 334 43,000
2.0. TYPES OF DAMS
Due to advancement in technology though dams of
different types are being built, the main types of dams
are earthen embankments, Masonry dams and concrete
dams. Off course other than these three main types of
dams, Rockfilled dams, steel and wooden dams, Rubber
dams, Concrete Faced Rockfilled Dams are also
constructed.
3.0. CATEGORIES OF DAMS
Considering above mentioned three main types of dams,
66% are Earthen – embankment while 33% are either
Masonry / Concrete dam. In Japan 90% of dams are in
Masonry / concrete. In USA the proportion of earthen
dam with masonry /concrete dam is (1:3) while in India it
is (20:1) In Maharashtra this proportion is same as that
of USA i.e. (1:3). From Dam-safety point of view,
numbers, types and categories of dam has special
importance, because earthen dams are safest. The
accident proneness and hazard potential depends largely
on the type of dam.
4.0. FAILURE MECHANISM OF DAMS
It is revealed from the study that about one third dams
fail due to faulty foundation, one third dam fail due to
unanticipated floods and rest of the one third dam due to
other several reasons. Dam break is an catastrophy
however nowhere in the world the rate of dam building is
retarded, on the other hand in decade 1946 -1955 even
after 12 major dam breaks, 200 new dams were built
and is the next decade 1956-1965 though dam break
incidents were 24, new 2500 dams were built.
Probability of Dam break can be in three stages.
1. After first impoundment
2. After 12-15 years.
3. After long period of construction.
From above it is seen that rest period of dam is very
less. Hence continuous vigil of dam behavior is inevitable.
Future prediction of behavior of dam depends on
expertise of individual. For this more attention is required
on following points.
1. Generally average result of foundation and dams
are considered however failures occur on the
weakest section or least line of resistance. This
is important to understand the failure mechanism
of a dam.
2. Deformation of a dam is it’s life long process. In
the first half, the dam adjusts itself to surrounding

Volume 1 v No. 1 v January 2012

26 INCOLD Journal
conditions, this is hyperbolic action, while in next
half due to changes in stresses is a cyclic action,
and however the centre of gravity of dam is
always linear.
3. The assumption regarding uplift pressure may go
wrong because uplift is measured only at few
points. Therefore a clear picture of uplift is not
available. Depending on the grout curtain to
reduce the uplift is also not correct, because due
to micro movement of foundation strata may tear
of the grout curtain thereby causing increase in
seepage and uplift.
5.0 DAM SAFETY
Dam being massive huge structure, it appears safe and
permanent thing to a common man. Though the oldest
dam in the world in Spain is 1500 years old, is it really
safe? Are the dams are safe forever? Expert Engineers
have to answer this question. The assumption of dam as
a safe thing is not a truth on the contrary it is not so and
it gets unsafe due to various reasons. Accordingly to
Edward Gruner, “All manmade works carry within
them the seeds of their own decay and eventual
destruction”
Dam is not an exception to this saying. Dams are
manmade works and though built up accurately and
scientifically, in the process of establishing the equilibrium
of nature, failure is inevitable. From this point of view
dam can not be a permanent. However in relative sense
of permanency the proportion of dam safety is different
in different country. India and USA are the relatively
unsafe countries as compare to France and Japan. India
is having 10% unsafe dams while Japan is having only
1% unsafe dams.
Safety of dams depends on their age because the risk of
dam failure is more during construction stage. Therefore
emergency action plan shall be prepared for newly built
dams. Dams between five to ten years old are safer.
Dams having age of more than twenty five years are to
be ascertain for their safety. Failure of Macchu dam in
Gujarat is an example which was old more than 25 years.
This may jeopardizes the safety of a dam. The above
mentioned points are only indicative and well experienced
and expert engineers can suggest the cause and
remedies about the failure.
REASONS FOR DAM INCIDENTS:
(A) DUE TO EXTERNAL REASONS:
1. Pore pressure
2. Fault in foundation.
3. Spillway.
4. Gates and outlets.
Volume 1 v No. 1 v January 2012
(B) DUE TO INTERNAL REASONS:
1. Heavy Downpour
2. Erosion due to waves
3. Earth quake
4. War
(A) DUE TO EXTERNAL REASONS:
Due to heavy rainfall, earthen dams can fail because of
sliding of slopes, landslide on either banks of the dam
may cause dam break. Waves may cause external
erosion leading to failure. Earthquake is the most
dangerous calamity, because it’s prediction is difficult and
if it’s magnitude is more tensile forces in the dam may
lead to breach of dam. For this, necessary precaution is
taken while designing the dam located in different
seismological zones. Fortunately large area of
Maharashtra is made up of Lava Matrix and therefore
was considered seismologically stable, however due to
some tremors in recent past it is necessary to reconsider
its stability. Government of Maharashtra has set up at
Koyna Tremor Committee. This high level committee has
scope for study of seismological activities for entire states
and all dams. The geologist and seismologist of this
committee have prepared a map which will help to
enhance the dam safety. Now government has issued
the orders and the use of this map is being done.
Reservoir Induced Seismsity (RIS) has been observed
in case of some large dams after their first impoundment.
e.g. Kremasta (Greece), Kariba (Africa), Hoover
Marathon, Oroville (USA), Koyna (India). This has been
for about 30 dams in the world. The Khardi Tremors (May
1983) in the vicinity of Bhrtsta dam is also to be studied
on this background by the experts.
Besides these natural calamities, a new man made fear
to dam safety is the war. Great Britain had acquired the
technique of breaching the dam and they have used it in
World War II against the Germany. This is also one of
the reason of the victory of Great Britain. Therefore this
aspect is also needs to be consider while thinking about
safety of dams, on this background the confidentiality of
papers and maps of the dam is very important.
(B) DUE TO INTERNAL REASONS:
Pore, Pressure: Seepage through the body of the dam
and underneath the foundation increases pore pressure
and makes the dam unsafe. Therefore incase of earthen
dam, it is necessary to control pore pressure by providing
relief wells.
Foundation Problem: Earlier dams were built on good
and strong foundations. Now a days dams are being built
on comparatively geologically unsound foundation.
Number of such dams, is increasing causing concern to
the dam safety. The reaction of water load on foundation
 Dam Safety: Illusion and Reality
of a dam is mild but definite. It takes long time to transfer
the load on foundation and even if the lake level is
reduced the stresses on foundation is not relived
completely. These stresses cause accumulated creep
in foundation and thereby the dam becomes unsafe.
To improve the foundation condition, grouting technique
is adopted however along with this several new
techniques to consolidation of foundation is being adopted
so that geologically incompetent foundation can be
strengthen to enhance the safety of a dam. Off course
this kind of treatment is a site specific and therefore role
of geotechnical engineers is important and necessary.
Spillways: Spillway is the cause of many dam failures.
Therefore it is very important component for safety of a
dam. Spillway being in masonry or concrete it’s safety
depends on foundation grade bed rock. If we build the
dam on relatively weak foundation, we will lead to unsafe
dam.
Flood discharging capacity of the dam shall be designed
very carefully by doing flood routing with modern
methods, however most important thing is to decide
frequency of flood. To decide the frequency of flood,
rainfall data for long series of years is required. Hungary
is having the rainfall data for past 450 years; India is
having data for 125 years and Maharashtra for 70 years.
It is not good to overlook the economy while deciding
frequency of flood, because a person considering 1: 1000
frequencies has his life of only 70 to 80 years, this is a
paradox. For this, it is very important to have reliable
rainfall data for as many years as possible.
Gates and Outlets: Dams have become a dynamic
system because of installation of gates and outlets; Due
to this human touch, the dams have become more unsafe.
The inherited human errors in handling these gates and
outlets makes the dams unsafe thereby paying the heavy
cost.
Normally outlets are made up of different material than
dam, and as a rule, two dissimilar materials cannot stay
together for longer time. Therefore the outlets are also
major cause of failures in many cases, for example failure
of Panshet Dam.
6.0. METHODS OF DAM BREAKS
Failure of every types of a dam is typical e.g. Gravity
dam breaches in only overstressed portion, Arch dam
collapses completely. Buttress dam fails by failure of a
buttress one by one.
Earthen embankment fails slowly horizontal and erosion
and downstream side. The general process of failure of
earthen dam is interesting.
1. Dam break of Earthen Dam.
27
(a) Due to internal erosion- (piping
phenomenon) by seepage. From bottom
to upward direction
(b) Due to internal erosion by seepage from
downstream side to upstream side.
2. Dam break of Gravity Dam
There is less possibility of dam break due to overtopping
in case of gravity dam. On the contrary the portion of the
dam where excessive strain is occurred, the hole of the
shape of letter U will form, leading to dam break, eg
foundation step of a dam.
7.0 RATE OF DAM BREAK
Rate of dam break is different in different countries. Rate
of Dam break in 100 years in Japan is 13%, in U.S.A
4.7%, Spain 13% as given in the book of Author Edward
Gruner’s, ‘Dam Disasters and Discussions’. Similarly
different types of dams have different rate of dam-breaks.
If we have a look at the table of failure of dam prepared
by ICOLD (pl see table), Earthen dams have cause major
incidents and damages in U.S.A, on the other hand more
than thousands of earthen dams are still in operation for
last hundred years.
It means, it is not correct to draw any conclusion from
mere statistics. In case of earthen dam it can be said
that the problem of safety becomes easily serious,
dangerous and beyond control causing failure. This
means this is a managerial problem and not purely
technical, because as per important observation of Mr.
Walhev (U.S.A), ‘senior officers assumes that the work
of earthen embankment is simple, and they rely on junior
officers for construction’.
8.0 LESSON FROM DAM FAILURE.
Turbid water occurring at downstream toe is the sign of
internal erosion in case of earthen dam. One important
observation is that the failure due to foundation problem
is generally immediate after the sunset, it is difficult to
explain the reasoning of these two things but cause and
effect may be due to loss of equilibrium due to foundation
problem, sudden change in temperature after sunset
might be trigging the failure. (More research and expert
opinion is needed in this area)
9.0 DAM SAFETY AND FACTOR OF SAFETY
Some conclusions drawn by some experts for factor of
safety needs to be consider for safety of dams.
1. Factor of safety of earthen dam increases with
time elapsed.
2. Factor of safety assumed at the time of reservoir-
planning does not increases after some period
hence dam break fully depends on law of
Volume 1 v No. 1 v January 2012
28 INCOLD Journal

probability. Therefore factor of safety must be
increased considering its damage potential to the
life and property on downstream side.
3. In earlier days dams were built in remote areas
and therefore the factor of safety was less. But in
modern times the dams are being built closer to
human habitat and considering this possibility in
future also increasing factor of safety is inevitable.
Considering above conclusions designs of dams’ needs
revision.
especially in case of earthen dam the pipe
conduits & spillway where dissimilar materials are
used shall be vigiled and maintained regularity.
2. At the time of first impoundment of reservoir, all
safety measures shall be taken after studying
spillway flood discharging capacity.
3. Flood forecasting and warning system shall be
installed and keep in operation for all dams, prone
to accidents and having potential downstream
hazards.

10. REMEDIAL MEASURES ON DAM SAFETY
Measures are required to be taken during planning,
construction and operation of dams.
Measures during Planning
1. The proven dam type which is safest shall be
acceptable. Importance shall be given to dam
safety over political and economical reasons.
2. To increase the social memories like noting of
rainfalls, floods etc. This is a long term measure.
3. Design of dam shall be prepared by only expert
and experienced engineers.
4. To provide breaching section with low factor of
safety at predetermined location to control the
dam break.
Measures during Constructions
1. Responsibility of dam construction shall be rested
on only experienced and expert engineers and
shall be assisted by geologist.
2. Good quality control over materials for
construction shall be exercised.
3. In case of large dam if number of outlets are more
they shall be located at different levels.
Measures during Operation & Maintenance
1. All components of dams shall be well maintained,
4. Regular pre/post monsoon inspection of dams
shall be done by a dam inspectorate like Dam
Safety Organization. (DSO) which is established
by Government of Maharashtra on the lines of
CWC. For this the dams shall be suitably
instrumented and instruments shall be in good
working condition for all the time.
5. Good documentation of all relevant record of
dams shall be available when needed.
6. Operating staff of gates and outlets shall be well
trained, considering the various possibilities of
floods regulation and mitigation of floods. Dam
built in series on a river-system shall be operated
considering, it’s cascading effect on a
downstream dam. For this a simulation study shall
be done considering entire river basin for its
safety. ICOLD has done this for a river basin;
Water Resources Department of Govt. of
Maharashtra has done this in case of Mula, Mutha
and Bhima basin and handled the flood situation
skillfully. The cities like Pune, Pandharpur are
handled properly to avoid loss of properties and
lives in the Monsoon of 1983. On this background
importance of this method can be realized.
7. Above mentioned measures are only indicative
and dam operators and Dam Safety Organization
has to play very important role in taking appropriate
and timely measures for safety of dams.

Table 1 : Types of Incidents for different types of Dams.

Sr. No Incidents Earth Rockfill Masonry Gravity Arch Others Total

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
1 F1 21 4 4 4 2 4 39
2 F2 21 2 0 8 4 0 35
3 A1 80 5 6 7 6 0 104
4 A2 36 3 1 2 2 1 45
5 A3 4 0 0 0 0 0 5
6 AR 2 1 0 2 0 0 5
7 MR 25 4 3 31 18 0 81
8 DDC 20 5 1 7 3 0 35
Total 209 24 15 61 35 5 349

Volume 1 v No. 1 v January 2012

 Dam Safety: Illusion and Reality 29

Note :
1. F1 – Dam failed and were not rebuilt
2. F2- Dam failed and were re-built
3. A1- Accidents after operation for some time.
4. A2- Accidents during initial lake filling
5. A3- Accidents before operation of lake filling
6. AR- Accidents Reservoir
7. MR- Major Repairs
8. DDC- Damage during construction.
Table 2 : Reasons of Failures of dams.
Sr.No Country Foundation Overturning Piping Outlets Inadequate Slips Breach Other
Spillway
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
1 Canada 3 5 - - 2 - - -
2 U.K 5 1 1 1 - 1 1 -
3 India 1 4 3 - - - 6 6
4 Spain 1 3 2 - - - - -
5 U.S.A 30 60 22 1 17 6 6 54
Total 40 73 28 2 19 7 13 60

Source: Catalogue of Dam Disasters and Failures

APPENDIX
COMPREHENSIVE INSURANCE PLAN FOR DAMS
Economics of Dams
Construction of dam requires huge capital outlay and
State Government is doing this by raising the funds from
World Bank. If we look at the dam from commercial point
of view then the huge investment done for the construction
of dam shall be productive at earliest. At the same time if
we give undue importance to safety of dams then this
becomes very costly affair e.g. the flood of 1:1000
frequency considered for the planning means an idle
expenditure for 1000 years, or if factor of safety is higher,
then the expenditure is unproductive till occurrence of
such event. From this angle if we consider dam as a
permanent monument then it becomes an unaffordable
thing, on the contrary if we consider it as a ‘commercial
product’ then we can curtail the capital cost to a
substantial extent. Now question is which of the above
thinking shall be accepted? Because this problem is also
to be taken as a social problem. In western world this
commercial aspect is getting popular because of a new
and innovative idea of Insurance of Dam. This idea has
been put forth to ICOLD.
INSURANCE OF DAM
Hazard potential of dam can be compared to that of Atomic
Power Plants. Hazard Potential of dam has got
geographical limitations and potential energy behind the
dam is unlike man made atomic energy. ‘Gods Act’ is still
prevailing in dam construction; therefore it is difficult to
rest a responsibility of dam incident due to ‘Gods Act’ on a
man. On the other hand in case of Atomic Power Plant the
thing is different therefore considering its productivity and
hazard Potential, most of the countries in the world have
made it compulsory to have ‘Insurance Plan’. This paper
was written before the ‘Chernoville’ Atomic Power plant
incidents in Russia in the year 1998. However fortunately
no incident of Atomic Power plant noticed so far,
nevertheless the conditions of Atomic Power Plant and
dam being comparable, Mr. Sowthun & Muller has
propagated the Idea of Insurance- plan for dams.
THIRD-PARTY INSURANCE PLAN
A futuristic third party insurance plan is mainly for the
compensation of life and property of the citizen living in
insurance zone of dam break. This scheme consists of
three possibilities.
1. Dam owner will be responsible fully for
compensation but he has to share a certain fixed
amount and beyond that the Government shall
take the responsibility.
2. Legally Dam owner will have a limited
responsibility up to the ‘Acceptable risk’ and he
will have the insurance cover up to that, and
beyond that the government shall take the
responsibility.

Volume 1 v No. 1 v January 2012

30 INCOLD Journal
This has came from altogether different thinking
of Insurance person according to them when a
Government gives permission to build a dam, at
that very instance the population in vicinity of that
comes under potential danger, and even if the
dam is being built for development of a nation,
this a breach of ‘law of equality’, therefore
government shall be responsible for the
compensation to that part of population.
3. In this case responsibility of dam owner is fixed
to a huge sum, off course this huge sum is also
not negotiable by insurance cover neither the dam
owner can afford it. In this situation the difference
between Insured sum and actual compensation
shall be make good by the government.
It is difficult to say which out of above three
schemes is correct from socio-economic and
technological angle. Only the international
organization like, ‘UNESCO’ and ‘ICOLD’ in their
joint collaboration can handle the problem.
Hopefully if on the basis of ‘common-need’ if the
Volume 1 v No. 1 v January 2012
respective governments of the nation make the
insurance for their country then the rate of
insurance will come down to the level of
acceptable reality and the scheme of insurance
of dam may be in actual practice in future.
REFERENCES
Lessons from dam incidents, USA- 1975 ASCE/USCOLD
1. Catalogue of dam disasters & failures- USBR.
2. ICOLD IXth Congress Q. No. 34 ‘The Mechanism
of dam failure’.
3. ICOLD IXth Congress Q. No. 34 R. No.1
‘Statistical Study of failures, damages and
deterioration of earth dams in Japan
4. ICOLD Xth Congress- 1970 Q. No. 138 R No. 11
‘ Safety and behavior of concrete dams’
5. ICOLD Xth Congress- 1970 Q. No. 38R No. 20
‘Comprehensive Insurance of dams, its scope
and feasibility’.
 31

ICOLD ACTIVITY

ICOLD EXPANDS ITS MEMBERSHIP AND ITS ACTIVITIES

Arelaunch of ICOLD’s website, the creation of a Young Engineers’
Forum, free distribution of Technical Bulletins in the less developed
countries, new member countries from Central Asia, an increased
focus on issues such as climate change, and a Round Table on
hydro and dams in Africa were among the activites of ICOLD
reflected at its 79th Annual meeting in Lucerne this year. All these
demonstrated that the Commission is continuing on its path to
broaden its scope and respond to new develop-ments in a changing
world.
The two new ICOLD Vice-Presidents,elected in
The host country of this year’s meetings, Switzerland, had much Lucerne:(far left) A. Pujol of Argentina and T. Sakamoto
to show to the international dam engineering community, based of Japan.
on its long-term experience of building some of the world’s largest
and most majestic dams. The current Swiss policy, delegates heard, was to continue with new hydropower and
pumped-storage schemes, and to upgrade existing hydraulic works.
More than 1000 delegates took part in the meetings, the symposium or exhibition during the week, and special
emphasis was placed on encouraging young participants.
The topic of the one-day sympo-sium was ‘Dams and reservoirs under changing challenges’, and the underlying
themes of the sessions were related to safety, environmental aspects and climate change.
Africa Round Table
During this Round Table, ICOLD President Jia Jinsheng reported on an initiative by the Chinese Government to
fund the university education of African students at Chinese universities during their completion of Bachelor and
Masters degrees. The initiative will help to build local capacity on the continent in the field of water resources. Hon
President Prof Luis Berga welcomed the proposal and added that the training of a sufficient number of young
industry professionals was a significant challenge. He also noted that greater African representation on ICOLD
technical committees could play an important role in the sharing of experiences and dissemination of knowledge.
Delegates discussed some of the particular issues and challenges for the African nations, and reviewed ways in
which ICOLD might be able to offer support.
Executive Meeting
ICOLD Officers
As usual, two new Vice-Presidents took office at the Executive Meeting.

Hon President Prof L. Berga during the Michel de Vivo wasre-appointed for his ICOLD President Dr Jia Jinsheng, and Prof A.Schleiss,
Round Table on Africa. next three-year term as Secretary- President of the Swiss Committee, in the ICOLD
General at the Executive Meeting in 2011Exhibition hall.
Lucerne.

Volume 1 v No. 1 v January 2012

32 INCOLD Journal

H.E. Dr Jiao Yong, Vice Minister of Water U. Studer, Mayor of Lucerne,and W. Steinmann, Director of the Swiss Federal
Resources, China, who gave a keynote address at Office of Energy, at the opening session of the Symposium.
the Symposium.

For the Zone America, Alejandro Pujol of Argentina was elected, to take over from A. Marulanda of Colombia. For
the Sixth Post, T. Sakamoto of Japan was elected.
Secretary-General Michel de Vivo was also unanimously re-appointed for another three-year term of office.
New Member Countries
Three new member countries were welcomed by the ICOLD Executive: Georgia, Armenia and Uzbekistan. They
will become the 93rd, 94th and 95th member countries, respectively. The Secretary-General reported that interest
in becoming members had also been expressed by Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.
Forthcoming meetings
T. Sakamoto gave an update on arrangements for ICOLD 2012, the 80th Annual Meeting and 24th Congress, which
will take place in Kyoto, Japan, from 2 to 8 June. He began his talk by reporting on rehabilitation work currently
underway in Japan following the M9 earth-quake and tsunami in the northeast of the country, which took place on 11
March. He told delegates that 400 dams had already been inspected, and all had withstood the major events well,
with the exception of a small embankment structure which had failed. He stressed that the area of next year’s
meeting was in no way affected by, or geographically close to, the disaster in the Tohoku region. The one-day
symposium on 5 June next year, Sakamoto said, is to have the theme ‘Dams for a changing world – Need for
knowledge transfer’. Topics will include:
• impacts of climate change;
• benefits of dams;
• knowledge and technology transfer in dam engineering;
• advanced technologies for dam construction;
• earthquakes; and,
• geotechnical aspects of dam foundations.

Voting officers and delegations from Greece, Iceland, Uruguay, Uzbekistan, USA and Vietnam, during the Executive Meeting on 3 June.

Volume 1 v No. 1 v January 2012

 ICOLD Activity 33

A call for papers has already been issued for the symposium, with an abstract deadline of 31 July this year. For
more details, visit the web site: http://icold2012kyoto.org
The four Technical Questions to be discussed at the Congress, as decided in Hanoi last year, will be:
Q92: Environmentally friendly techniques for dams and reservoirs;
Q93: Safety;
Q94: Flood discharge; and, Q95: Ageing and upgrading.
Pre- and Post-Meeting technical study tours are planned to a number of large dams in various parts of Japan, as
well as to schemes in China and Korea.
Sakamoto also gave details of cultural excursions which will be offered in and around Kyoto at the time of the
meetings.
The US Dam Society is to host the 81st Annual Meeting in 2013, and this will take place in the city of Seattle. The
provisional dates suggested are 12 to 16 August. President of USSD, Mike Rogers, described Seattle as the cultural
and educational centre of the Pacific Northwest, and he added that one or more of the study tours would focus on
the dams of the Columbia river, including Bonneville. The theme of the Symposium would be: Changing times:
Infrastructure development to infrastructure management.
For the Annual Meeting in 2014, invitations were put forward from three Asian countries: India (Agra), Sri Lanka
(Colombo) and Indonesia (Bali). The vote for the 2014 venue will be taken next year in Kyoto.

SYMPOSIUM
At the one-day symposium, President of the Swiss Committee, Prof Anton Schleiss, welcomed participants, and
additional welcome addresses were given by U. Studer, Mayor of Lucerne, W. Stein mann, Director of the Swiss
Federal Office of Energy, and Dr Jia Jinsheng, President of ICOLD. Steinmann spoke of Switzerland’s major use of
renewable energy resources, which contributed about 60 per cent of national electricity production.
He spoke of the high value Switzerland placed on its dams and hydro stations, and he described the country’s new
energy strategy and targets, which involved plans to develop new hydro and pumped-storage plants. An additional
6 TWh/year was to be produced by pumped-storage schemes either under way or going ahead, and a further 4
TWh/year would be from conventional hydro schemes.
R. Abdel Malek, President of IHA, gave a short talk on his Association’s hydropower sustainability guide-lines, and
invited delegates to IHA’s conference in Iguassu, Brazil (which took place in June).
A keynote address was presented by China’s Vice Minister of Water Resources, Jiao Yong, during which he discussed
implications of climate change on water resources and water infrastructure in China, where both severe floods and
droughts were already presenting major problems for some regions, as the country’s water resources were very
unevenly distributed. He also referred to the associated aspects of dam safety, noting that 11 small dams had
breached in China during the heavy flooding of 2010. He outlined China’s national plans to adapt to the effects of
cli-mate change, which included strengthening water infrastructure with a large-scale programme of rehabilitation,
accelerating various reforms in the water sector, and ensuring there were clearly defined rules relating to water
resources development and management. Vice Minister Jiao reported that a total of RMB 64.5 billion (about US$9.97
billion) was being invested in the reinforcement of more than 7300 dams and reservoirs. Over the next five years, up
to 41 000 small reservoirs would be reinforced. Flood warning systems were also to be strengthened, he added.
Award to Prof Chen Houqun
A special award was made to honour Prof Chen Houqun of China, during the symposium. His contribution to dam
engineering was recognized, in particular in the field of seismic aspects of dam safety. His work in studying the
behaviour of dams following the Wenchuan earthquake has been reported in our journal (see H& D Issue 3, 2009).
Long-term behaviour of dams
Two sessions of the symposium dealt with this topic, the first was co-chaired by Dr Andy Hughes (Atkins, UK) and
Dr M. Aufleger (University of Innsbruck, Austria), and the sec-ond co-chaired by A. Pujol (Consultant, Argentina)
and R. Charlwood (Consultant, USA).
A. Mellal (Stucky, Switzerland), gave details of a numerical model to analyse the dynamic behaviour of an arch-
gravity dam, based on studying an existing crack, and aimed at assessing seismic safety.

Volume 1 v No. 1 v January 2012

34 INCOLD Journal

Dr A. Zielinski (BC Hydro, Canada) discussed safety requirements for dams, focusing on risk-informed decision
making; he felt this offered superior insight into all aspects of dam safety, and could take into account the issue of
safety to life in a more appropriate way than traditional methods.
The theme of riskbased approaches to dam safety management continued with a presentation by P. Heinrichs,
(Dam Safety Committee of NSW, Australia). The policy of DSC was to identify, assess and manage risk to the
public, and keep these under review throughout the life of the project.
Xu Zeping (IWRH, China) described numerical analysis of the 186.5 m-high Sanbanxi CFRD in China, where the
face slab had rup-tured after impounding. The study had provided valuable lessons about the cause of the rupture,
including the low modulus of the upstream rockfill.
Dr D. Stematiu (Technical University of Civil Engineering, Romania) described the case of the Poiana Uzului dam
in his country, to demon-strate some of the problems of an age-ing concrete buttress dam. As a result of foundation
conditions, sudden uplift pressures had been induced by tensile cracks in the grout curtain at the upstream toe, and
the drainage system had become clogged, over time.
Dams and Natural Hazards
This session was co-chaired by Dr Martin Wieland (Pöyry, Switzerland), and Dr G. Zenz (TU Graz, Austria).
Dr N. Matsumoto (Japan Dam Engineering Centre) gave a special talk on the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, and
the behaviour of dams in the region (see also H&D Issues 2 and 3, 2011).
Continuing on the theme of dams and earthquakes, Y. Yamaguchi (Public Works Research Institute, Japan) described
a study based on cumulative damage theory to estimate the settlement of rockfill during major earthquake motion.
F. Løvholt (NGI, Norway), discussed the hazard associated with tsunamis generated by rock slide impact in reservoirs,
and various methods used to quantify the risk. GIS analysis had been used to identify endangered lakes, and
geotechnical and geophysical investigations had been carried out to study rock slope stability. Numerical simulations
had then been done to study rock slide, wave dynamics and overtopping.
H. Seto (Hokkaido Electric Power Co, Japan) spoke about special measures taken to construct an asphalt facing for
the upper reservoir at the Kyogoku pumped-storage scheme, located in one of the coldest regions of Japan.
High RCC Dams
Dr M.R.H. Dunstan (Malcolm Dunstan & Associates, UK) reviewed world progress in RCC dam construction, focusing
particularly on very high structures. Two RCC dams higher than 200 m had already been completed, he pointed out,
and a third was underway, with about five more planned. He described some of the achievements so far in terms of
placement rates, and he focused on some details of the 217 m-high Longtan dam in China. Dunstan concluded that
there was no technical reason why a 300 m-high RCC dam could not be completed quite soon.
Dams and Climate Change
This session was co-chaired by D. Aelbrecht (France) and G. Ruggeri (Italy). A paper presented by J. Boillat (EPFL,
Switzerland) dealt with a decision support system devel-oped for flood prediction and management of a complex of
hydro schemes on the Rhône river. Another, by T. Sugiura (CREARIA, Japan) described the integrated operation of
three dams, to ensure flood control on the upper Nabari river in Japan.
Dams in a Sound Environment
The final session was co-chaired by Dr Th. Strobl (TU Munich, Ger many) and J-P. Chabal (EDF, France). Dr A.
Kryzanowski (University of Ljubljana, Slovenia) presented a cost-benefit evaluation of environmental impacts and
mitigation measures, which had been applied for a hydro plant upgrade. A. Carmona Rodrigues (New University of
Lisbon, Portugal) presented an analysis of water quality in the Alqueva reservoir, and com-pared results with pre-
construction forecasts.

Volume 1 v No. 1 v January 2012

 35

INCOLD Activities
SEMINAR ON
ROLLER COMPACTED CONCRETE DAMS
13-15 APRIL, 2011, NASHIK, MAHARASHTRA

SUMMARY OF PROCEEDINGS
The Seminar on Roller Compacted Concrete Dams was organized by Central Board of Irrigation and Power (CBIP);
Indian Committee on Large Dams (INCOLD); Water Resources Department, Govt. of Maharashtra, Municipal
Corporation of Greater Mumbai, and THDC India Limited on 13-14 April 2011 at Nashik, Maharashtra followed by
one day field visit on 15th April 2011 to the projects site to view progress of construction of Middle Vaitarna RCC Dam.
The seminar was organized with a view to create awareness about this new technology among engineers of the
various agencies in India dealing with different aspects including planning, design, construction, equipment planning,
time & cost aspects, O&M etc. especially highlighting the scope for utilization of bulk quantity of fly ash (approx.
125 million) being produced tons annually in thermal power stations in our country. The construction of RCC dams has
now been universally accepted as a more economical method of dam construction by combining safety, aesthetics
and cost effectiveness with due care to its suitability in Himalayan geological conditions. From the visible trend of RCC
dam engineering, it appears that greater number of dams will be constructed using this technology in the near future.
The seminar was inaugurated by Shri Ramraje Naik-Nimbalkar, Hon’ble Minister for Water Resources (MKVDC),
Govt. of Maharashtra on 13th April 2011. The Inaugural session was graced by Shri M. Gopalakrishnan, Secretary
General, International Commission on Irrigation and Drainage (ICID) Shri D.D. Bhide, Director General, Maharashtra
Engineering Research Institute (MERI), Shri Ankeeneedu Mangati, Managing Director, Soma Enterprise Limited
and Shri V.K. Kanjlia, Secretary, Central Board of Irrigation and Power. A book on ‘An Indian Experience- Roller
Compacted Concrete Dams’ authored by Shri V.C. Shelke, Former Chief Engineer, Koyna Project was also released
by the Hon’ble Minister of Water Resources.
Besides the Plenary Session, there were 5 technical sessions where about 15 presentations were made by the
national as well as international experts who are involved in planning, design, construction and operation &
maintenance of RCC dams. The seminar ended with a Concluding Session. These sessions were very useful and
interactive where experts shared their experience and exchanged the information on the state-of-the-art technology.
The participation of Dr. C.D. Thatte, Former Secretary, Water Resources, Govt. of India, Dr. D.M. More, former
Director General, MERI, S/ Shri M.K. Rehman, Engineer-in-Chief (AW), B.S.N. Reddy, Engineer-in-Chief (I), Irrigation
and CAD Department, Govt. of Andhra Pradesh, Mr. Yves Felix, Vice President, Coyne-et-Billier and Shri I.S.
Reddy, Vice President, Soma Enterprise Limited, and Mr. Georg Dirk, Managing Director, Dirk India signifies the
importance of the seminar. The seminar was sponsored by M/s. Soma Enterprise Limited

Inaugural session of the seminar Hon’ble Minister lighting the lamp while
inaugurating the seminar

Volume 1 v No. 1 v January 2012

36 INCOLD Journal

View of audience Shri M. Gopalakrishnan chairing the Concluding Session

15 technical papers contributed by national and international experts formed Proceedings of the seminar, which
added new dimensions to the body of knowledge on the subjects. There were 150 participants from different
Govt. departments, Public Sector Undertakings like NTPC, NHPC, THDC, SJVNL, NEEPCO, WAPCOS as well
as private agencies including participants from France, UK and Bhutan who are involved in the construction of
RCC dams in the country as well abroad to deliberate the various topics of the seminar. The deliberations of the
seminar helped the participants in better understanding of the various aspects of this new technology and its
adoption in a big way.
The Chairman and Co-Chairman for the plenary and technical sessions were Dr. C.D. Thatte, Former Secretary(
Water Resources), Govt. of India, Shri V.V. Gaikwad, Former Secretary ( Irrigation), Govt. of Maharashtra, Dr. D. M.
More, Former Director General, MERI, Shri V.C. Shelke, Former Chief Engineer, Koyna Project, Shri M.
Gopalakrishnan, Secretary General, ICID, Shri M. A. Rehman, Engineer in Chief, Irrigation and CAD Department,
Govt. of Andhra Pradesh, Shri D.D. Bhide, Director General, MERI, Shri H.V. Patel, Managing Director, Multi Mantech,
International Pvt. Ltd., Shri B.S.N. Reddy, Engineer-in-Chief (I) , Irrigation and CAD Department, Govt. of Andhra
Pradesh, Shri P.R. Bhamre, Chief Engineer, CDO, MERI, Shri Balraj Joshi, General Manager - Designs, NHPC ,
Mr. Yves Felix from Coyne-et – Belier and Shri Reddy, Vice President, Soma Enterprise Limited.
The concluding session was chaired by Shri Gopalakrishnan and others on the dais were Dr. D.M. More, Shri V.C.
Shelke, Shri I.S. Reddy, Vice President, SOMA, and Shri A.C. Gupta, Director(Water Resources), CBIP. After the
successful conclusion of the two days seminar, about 60 participants visited the Middle Vaitarna RCC Dam on 15th
April. A list of presentations made during the seminar is appended.
The following issues emerged after two days of deliberations of the seminar:
1. The journey of Concrete Technology over the last 50 years stretches from Rubble/plum concrete being
compacted using needle vibrators to roller compacted concrete (RCC). RCC technology cuts down the time
of construction sizeably and also enables early returns. It is also eco-friendly and cost effective technology.
In view of these prominent advantages of RCC, its applications needs to be expanded to mass concrete
works such as dams, concrete roads etc.
2. About 400 RCC dams having been completed and about 75 in various stages of construction through-out the
world, there is a urgent need to give due importance to this technology in India where so far only 3 dams
having been completed and one under construction using RCC technology.
3. In many cases there is need to remove substantial quantity of weak material of the foundation to raise the
concrete dams. In such cases, the option of using RCC in filling the foundation needs to be considered as it
will save time and cost.
4. Since reinforcements in the dam body or foundation interfere in quick raising of the dams using RCC
technology, there is a need to examine if reinforcements can be avoided. If it is not possible to remove
reinforcements particularly around the openings, the possibility of providing pre- fabricated precast panels
around the opening should also be examined. However, where it is not possible, conventional concrete may
be used.

Volume 1 v No. 1 v January 2012

 Seminar on Roller Compacted Concrete Dams 37

5. Apprehensions were raised that in absence of any code relating to the subject matter it is difficult to adopt
this technology in general. Keeping in view the Indian experiences gained by the Irrigation department and
Bombay Municipal Corporation of Govt. of Maharashtra who have resorted to this technology for building
Ghatghar projects and Middle Vaitarna RCC dam based on S&T inputs even when no codes had been
formulated in India, apprehensions to opt for RCC can be done away with. Codes or the lack of it should not
forbid an agency or any state or public undertakings in taking up innovative technologies. The execution of
RCC dam projects is nothing new and can be easily opted for dams given the numerous advantages that
emerged in the conference proceedings. . International code of practices and varied experiences available
for execution of RCC dam need to be carefully studied and utilized as was the case in respect of Ghatghar
dams and Middle Vaitarna dam. Indian experience so far developed shall be very useful for drafting our own
code to be prepared in times to come. CBIP can come forward to cooperate with the Maharashtra State
Irrigation Department and bring in desired inputs.
6. Experience of utilizing RCC technology for dam construction in India is now available. The Maharashtra
engineers who are in position or those who retired from State service but were quite involved and and
associated with planning, design and RCC Dam contractors such as Patel Engineering Limited who constructed
three RCC dams of Ghatghar project or SOMA Enterprise Limited who are executing Middle Vaitarna RCC
dam at present and MERI who helped in designing the mix and maintaining quality control, DST, CWC, and
M/s Multi Mantech who had been promoting this technique as Consultants stand out as India’s rich resource
base in respect of RCC in Dams. Their experiences should be utilized for drafting a Guidelines/ or the
standard procedure / specifications in regard to mix design planning, Construction details etc. Central Board
of Irrigation and Power who have successfully executed three seminars on RCC Dams in 2002, 2006,and
now in 2011 besides bringing out a manual on RCC Dams in 2007 may take a lead to constitute a committee
of experts for preparing a draft guideline; later in association with BIS, attempt should be towards adopting
an Indian draft code on RCC Dams.
7. The RCC technology is very sensitive to quality aspects and hence delicate in its application. It involves the
use of sophisticated and equipments like batching plant, conveyor belt, laser mounted spreader, vibratory
roller and so on. Adherence to quality consciousness is a mandatory requirement; Competent agencies to
take up this venture are the need of the day. The continuity in works of similar nature will enable the agencies
to develop confidence in investment and also initiate a climate of fair competition and cost effectiveness in
this specialized field.
8. The Research and Design Wing such as MERI, GERI, CWPRS, CSMRS, CWC and the Design wings of
different states of the country in collaboration with DST’s flyash mission should further the development of
RCC technology in the country by developing an intense dialogue for sharing of experiences in an integrated
manner. This will enable the country to lessen the reliance on dependence on outside consultants and stand
on own legs. The technological support must come from within and not from outside. The databank made
by MERI at the instance of flyash mission by conducting number of tests on samples of flyash collected from
across the country should be made use of extensively.
9. There should be an Apex body consisting of Flyash Producers (Energy), users (Govt. & Pvt.), Contractors,
Researchers, Designers, Environment Engineers and promoters like flyash mission for review and monitoring
of furthering the development of RCC technology in the country in an integrated manner. C.W.C should
make a beginning to form such a group having members predominantly from the State of Maharashtra who
have been exclusively involved in promoting RCC technology. CBIP can as secretariat for this group.
10. For the promotion of RCC technology, there is a need to insist on study of an alternative of using RCC
technology for gravity dam projects. CWC and State Governments need to issue such a directive so that the
project reports have this alternative also.
11. Instruments play a very important role for knowing the behaviour of the dam. The data which have been
collected from RCC dams already constructed in India needs to be studied in detail so as to assess whether
the RCC dam and its foundation has behaved as expected.
12. Processing of flyash should be an integeral part of all our future Thermal projects for efficient utilization of
flyash. The need for a separate BIS standard for “processed flyash”, establishing a few dispersed processing
units around the country well spread geographically also stood acknowledged. The Centre and State agencies
should work towards this goal so that quality ingradients are easily available for adopting RCC technology all
over India.

Volume 1 v No. 1 v January 2012

38 INCOLD Journal

GLIMPSES OF TECHNICAL SESSIONS

Dignitaries on the Dais during the Inaugural Session Shri R.N. Khazanchi, MD, Punatsangchu
making a presentation

Dr. C.D. Thatte and Shri V.V. Gaikwad chairing Dr. D.M. More and Shri V.C. Shelke chairing
the Plenary Session the Technical Session - I

Shri M. Gopalakrishnan and Shri M.K. Rehman chairing Shri D.D. Bhide and and Shri H.V. Patel chairing
the Technical Session - II the Technical Session - III

Shri Balraj Joshi and Shri P.R. Bhavre chairing Mr. B.S.N. Reddy and Mr. Yves Felix chairing
the Technical Session - IV the Technical Session - V

Volume 1 v No. 1 v January 2012

 39

WORKSHOP ON
DAM SAFETY MANAGEMENT
29-30TH SEPTEMBER 2011
CONFERENCE HALL OF CBIP, NEW DELHI

Shri V.K. Kanjlia, Shri A.K. Bajaj, Shri S.K. Das and Shri A.K. Bajaj lighting the lamp
Shri R.C. Jha on the Dais

The catastrophic failure of dams have occurred in almost all parts of the world, from the most developed country like
USA to the most under developed parts of the world. It has been reported that there have been almost 200 notable
dam failures in the twentieth century in the world so far and It is estimated that more than 8000 people lost their lives
in these disasters. In India too, there have been quite a few failures. Most of the existing dams were built at a time
when the technology of dam designs and construction were at a developing stage. If these were to be reviewed as
per current practices and standards, they may not fulfill the criteria. Such dams may be potentially hazardous. In
view of this, dam safety evaluation of existing dams needs greater attention. Dam safety is, therefore, considered
as an extremely important aspect not only to safeguard the national interest and benefits derived from it but also to
ensure the safety of human lives and properties in the downstream reaches of the dams.
There is an increasing awareness in recent times, not only among the engineers but also among the general public,
about safety of dams already constructed as well as those planned for construction. It has been recognized that

Shri S.K. Das delivering Lecture during the workshop View of audience

Volume 1 v No. 1 v January 2012

40 INCOLD Journal

dam safety aspects particularly of the existing dams, are not receiving much attention as they should be, especially
in view of the fact that a number of these old/existing dams are ageing, leading to gradual natural degeneration.
Even safety of some of the dams which have been constructed in the recent past may become questionable, if the
flood characteristics or seismicity of the area has changed. These old dams may need a research under today’s
technology. The safety of dams is of paramount importance.
Dam safety programmes are of vital importance to the society and call for multidisciplinary efforts. Need has been
felt to review the procedures and the criteria of dam design with the objective of establishing the best assurance of
dam safety within the limitations of present state-of-the. An increasing trend in the implementation of various measures
to protect the public from consequences of dam failures can be seen around the world. In this direction, MOWR,
Govt. of India has presented The draft dam safety Bill 2010 in the Lok Sabha, to provide for proper surveillance,
inspection, operation and maintenance of all dams of certain parameters in India to ensure their safe functioning
and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto. Many Indian States are looking into legalizing the provisions.
Keeping in view the importance of the subject, the Indian Committee on Large Dams (INCOLD) and Central Board
of Irrigation and Power organized two days workshop on “Dam Safety Management” on 29-30th September 2011
in the Conference Hall of Central Board of Irrigation and Power, at New Delhi . The workshop was inaugurated by
Shri R.C. Jha, Chairman, Central Water Commission on 29th September 2011. The other dignitaries who addressed
the participants during the inaugural session are Shri A.K. Bajaj, Former Chairman, CWC ; Shri S.K. Das, Former
Chairman, CWC and Coordinator for the workshop; Shri V.K. Kanjlia, Secretary, CBIP and finally Shri A.C. Gupta
proposed the Vote of thanks. The workshop was sponsored by M/s. Encardio-rite Electronics Pvt. Ltd..The workshop
offered a good scope for interchange of experiences to facilitate exposure of state of art technology in all aspects of
dam safety management, especially considering participation of eminent dam experts. The following topics were
deliberated during the course of two days deliberations of the workshop:
• Introduction to dam safety (describing causes of dam failures, failure modes and lessons on dam incidents)
- Mr. S.K. Das, Former Chairman, CWC
• Investigation to determine the physical condition of dams (structural, geological and geotechnical review
of dams in operation) - Mr. S.K. Das, Former Chairman, CWC
• Hydrological review of existing dams – Mr. Bhopal Singh, Director – HSO, CWC
• Instrumentation for dams (to monitor their performance during operation) – Mr. V.K. Rastogi, Director –
Marketing, Encardio-rite Electronics Pvt. Ltd.
• Rehabilitation of dams in distress – Mr. S.K. Das, Former Chairman, CWC
• Dam safety in India: An Overview and Draft The Dam Safety Bill, 2010 – Dr. B. Ravikumar Pillai, Director –
Dam Safety, CWC
More than 125 professionals from Central and State Govt. agencies, Consultants, Developers, manufacturers etc.
have attended the deliberations of the workshop.

Volume 1 v No. 1 v January 2012

 41

PROCEEDINGS OF SHORT COURSE ON SCOUR OF ROCK

(DOWNSTREAM OF OVERTOPPING DAMS AND PLUNGE POOLS)

19th OCTOBER 2011, NEW DELHI

The hydraulic structures spilling excess water from dam reservoirs have been a major engineering concern for a
long time. The transfer of water to the downstream river may scour the dam foundation and the downstream river
bed. On the long term, this scour process may create structural safety problems. Hence, accurate prediction of time
evolution and ultimate scour depth is required which is traditionally estimated by use of empirical or semi-empirical
formulae that partially neglect basic physical processes involved. Especially the role of fluctuating dynamic pressures
in plunge pools and their transfer inside underlying rock joints is unknown. Also, empirical expressions are often
only applicable to the specific conditions for which they were developed. They neglect the influence of aeration on
dynamic pressures and cannot correctly simulate the resistance of the rock against progressive break-up. There
appears a need to create awareness among engineers of the concerned agencies in India about the state-of-the-art
insight and offers techniques that can be used to analyze scour of rock downstream of overtopping dams and in
plunge pools.
Keeping in view the above, the Central Board of Irrigation and Power (CBIP) and Indian Committee on Large Dams
(INCOLD), organized a Short Course on Scour of Rock (downstream of overtopping dams and plunge pools) on 19th
October 2011 at New Delhi. The short course was inaugurated by Shri A.K. Ganju, Member – D&R, Central Water
Commission. During the inaugural session, Shri V.K. Kanjlia welcomed the dignitaries and the participants; Dr.
George Annandale presented a brief overview of the short course and Shri A.C. Gupta proposed the vote of thanks.
The programme was attended by 50 participants from CWC, NTPC, NHPC, and other CPSUs, WR Departments of
State Govrnment.; developers, consultants etc.
Dr. George Annandale, P.E., D.WRE, F.ASCE, Program Leader at Golder Associates, Inc., who has 35 years of
experience as a civil engineer specializing in water resources engineering and is known for the development of the
Erodibility Index Method that can be used to determine the erodibility of any earth material, including rock, was the
instructor for the course.
The short course provided state-of-the-art insight and offers techniques that can be used to analyze scour of rock
downstream of overtopping dams and in plunge pools. Topics that were covered include assessment of the potential
for rock scour, and the maximum depth and rate of scour of rock. Economical solutions to scour problems are often
dependent on knowledge of the rate of scour, i.e. whether the maximum extent of scour occurs almost immediately,
or whether it is time-dependent. Scour that occurs almost instantaneously may require extensive protection, while
scour that is time-dependent and only reaches its full extent after, say, decades, may require only limited protection
if at all. The topics covered are based on technological developments in rock scour assessment developed over the
past 20 years.
The short course offers instruction on processes leading to scour, and on pragmatic methods to quantify the erosive
capacity of water and the erosion resistance of rock, and practical methods for calculating the potential for, extent
and rate of scour. The methodologies presented in the short course have been successfully applied in practice and
have been validated by making use of scour case studies. The participants were provided with the learning objectives
to develop:
Insight into scour processes and how flowing water interacts with rock and leads to scour,
The capability to quantify the ability of rock to resist the erosive capacity of water,
The capability to quantify the erosive capacity of water that can lead to scour of rock,
The capability to calculate the potential for, extent and rate of scour of rock.

Volume 1 v No. 1 v January 2012

42 INCOLD Journal

ICOLD Events
80th ANNUAL MEETING AND 24th ICOLD CONGRESS
KYOTO INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE CENTRE, JAPAN

JCOLD welcomes ICOLD members to Kyoto, the ancient capital of Japan, for the 80th Annual Meeting and 24th
Congress. The city contains 17 UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Sites, reflecting the legacy of many ancient
Japanese traditions.
During the Annual Meeting, on 5 June, a one-day International Symposium will take place, with the theme: DAMS
FOR A CHANGING WORLD: Need for Knowledge Transfer across the Generations and the World.
The Symposium themes are:
(1) Impacts of Climate Change on Dams and the
Benefits from Dams
(2) Dams for Meeting Increasing Demand of Growing
World Population
(3) Knowledge & Technology Transfer in Dam
Engineering
(4) Advanced Technologies for Construction of Dams
(5) New Techniques to Prevent and Manage
Incidents & Accidents
(6) Earthquakes
(7) Geotechical Aspects of Dam Foundations
(8) Others
Congress themes are:
Q92: Environmentally friendly techniques for dams
and reservoirs
1. Environmental and social friendly planning, design
and construction techniques for dams
2. Mitigation and compensation measures
3. Water quality and sediment issues
4. Sustainable management of dams and reservoirs
Chairman: Imo EKPO (Nigeria)
Vice-Chairman:Ahmet Mete SAATCHI (Turkey)
General Reporter: Joji HARADA (Japan)
Secretary: K. SOMEYA (Japan)
Q93 : Safety
1. Accidents and incidents in dams and reservoirs –
Recent case studies
2. Risks associated with human and organizational
factors
3. Legislation, regulatory concepts, guidelines and good
practice
4. Specific risks for small dams
5. Risks specific to tailing dams, pump-storage
schemes, flood control structures and other special
purpose dams
Chairman : Alain CARRERE (France)
Vice-Chairman : Alejandro PUJOL (Argentina)
General Reporter: Gerald ZENZ (Austria)
Secretary: Y. YAMAGUCHI (Japan)
Q94 : Flood discharge
1. Evaluation, revision and selection of extreme and
design floods
2. Recent trends in spillway design and spillway
upgrading
3. Special risks from gates operation and floating debris
4. Energy dissipation: stepped spillway, stilling basin and
downstream erosion
Chairman: B.P. MACHADO (Brazil)
Vice-Chairman: E. CIFRES (Spain)
General Reporter: Guo JUN (China)
Secretary: J. KASHIWAI (Japan)
Q95 : Ageing and upgrading
1. Risks associated with long-term behaviour of dam
foundations
2. Long-term behaviour of dam materials and structures
3. Decommissioning or upgrading?
4. Upgrading for seismic safety
Chairman: R. CHARLWOOD (USA)
Vice-Chairman: Ali NOORZAD (Iran)
General Reporter: Bernard HAGIN (Switzerland)
Secretary: J. TAKIMOTO (Japan)
The 24th Congress will run from June 6 to 8, and a
Technical Exhibition will take place from 5 to 8 June.
A full social and cultural programme has been organized
for delegates and accompanying persons Study tours will
take place before the meetings, to China and Korea, and
after the Meetings to various parts of Japan.
For more information, contact: Organizing Committee,
ICOLD 2012 Kyoto
Toranomon-Yatsuka Bldg. 8F, 1-1-11, Atago, Minato-ku,
Tokyo 105-0002 Japan
Tel: +81 3 3459 0946
• Fax: +81 3 3459 0948
• Email: contact@icold2012kyoto.org
Web:http://icold2012kyoto.org

Volume 1 v No. 1 v January 2012

 43

CALENDAR

23-26 May 2012

Hidroenergia 2012, organized by ESHA, will be tak-ing place in Wroclaw, Poland. The deadline has been extended
for the call for papers, and is now 15 December 2011.
Contact: European Small Hydropower Association, Renewable Energy House, Rue d’Arlon 63-67, 1040 Brussels,
Belgium. Tel: +32 2 400 10 67. Email: info@esha.be Website: www.esha.be
26-27 March 2012
ASIA 2012, The Fourth International Conference on Water Resources and Renewable Energy Development,
will take place in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Organized by Hydropower & Dams, and supported by EGAT, ICOLD, ICID,
IEA, IWRA and others, this international event will focus on issues of relevance to the Asia and Pacific region. Post-
Conference Study Tours are planned in Lao PDR and northern Thailand (see also pp 128).
Contact: Mrs Margaret Bourke, Hydropower & Dams, Aqua~Media International Ltd, PO Box 285, Wallington, Surrey
SM6 6AN, UK. Tel: +44 20 8773 7244. Fax: + 44 20 8773 7255. Email: asia2012@hydropower-dams.com. Website:
www.hydropower-dams .com
28 May-2 June 2012
The BALWOIS 2012 Conference will take place in Ohrid, Macedonia. The deadline for abstract submis-sions has
been extended to 20 November 2011.
Contact: Balwois 2012 Email: secretariat@balwois.com Website: www.balwois.com/2012
6-8 June 2012
The 24th ICOLD Congress will take place in Kyoto, Japan.
Contact: Organizing Committee, ICOLD 2012 Kyoto, Toranomon-Yatsuka Bldg. 8F., 1-1-11, Atago, Minato-ku,
Tokyo 105-0002, Japan. Tel: +81 3459 0946. Fax: +81 3459 0948. Email: contact@icold2012kyoto.org. Website:
www.icold2012kyoto .org
24-29 June 2012
The 63rd International Executive Council Meeting of ICID will take place in Adelaide, Australia.
Contact: ANCID, the Australian National Committee on Irrigation and Drainage, P.O. Box 1804, Hornsby, NSW
1635 Australia. Tel: +61 2 9476 0142. Fax : +61 2 9476 0792. E-mail : chris.bennett@irrigation.org.au, Website :
www.irrigation.org.au
17-20 September 2012
The 4th International Conference on the Ap-plication of Physical Modelling to Port and Coastal Protection
will take place in Ghent, Belgium.
Contact: Coastlabl2 - Conference Secretariat, Department of Civil engineering, Ghent University, Technologiepark
904, B-9052 Zwijnaarde (Ghent), Belgium. Tel: +32 9 264 54 89. Fax: +32 9 264 58 37. E-mail: coastlabl2@ugent.be
Website: www.coastlabl2.com
16-19 October 2012
The 5th International Yellow River Forum, held by IYRF Organizing Committee in conjunction with well-known
organizations and institutions, will take place in Zhengzhou, China.
Contact: Mr Shang Hongqi, Secretary-general. Email: yrf@yrcc.gov.cn; iyrf@hotmail.com Website:
www.yellowriverforum.cn
29-31 October 2012
HYDRO 2012 wiU take place in Bilbao, Spain. The deadline for submission of abstracts is 18 February 2012.
Contact: Mrs Margaret Bourke, Hydropower & Dams, Aqua~Media International Ltd, PO Box 285, Wallington, Surrey
SM6 6AN, UK. Tel: +44 20 8773 7244. Fax: + 44 20 8773 7255. Email: hydro2012@hydropower-dams.com. Website:
wwwkydropower-dams .com

Volume 1 v No. 1 v January 2012

44 INCOLD Journal

THE IEA HYDROPOWER ROADMAP ADVANCES

Co-organisers of the IEA roadmap process: Paolo Frankl (Head of Renewable Energy Division at IEA) and Carlos
Cased (Senior Analyst at IEA).
A meeting convened at the Cidade University in Rio de Janeiro and hosted by CEPEL brought together experts from
around the world to discuss regional developments as well as to make further contributions to the devel-opment of
IEA’s Roadmap for Hydropower resources going forward to 2050.
Albert de Melo (Director General of CEPEL) stressed the increasingly important role that hydro continues to play in
Brazil and around the world. The contextual background of the meeting was supported by regional overviews for
Asia (Steven Usher, Assistant Editor of H&D) and Africa (Paul Nel, Technical Director of Aurecon) as well as the
views of national and multilateral lenders (Sylvia Virginia Larrea of JDB and Nelson Siffert of the Brazilian National
Development Bank BNDES), and utilities (Emanuel Branche, EDF International). These presentations highlighted
the significant developments currently planned and underway, especially in Asia, while also noting some of the
political and funding challenges facing Africa, despite the strong opportunities on the continent. The considerable
heterogeneity of African nations in terms of their hydro potential, developments and constraints was noted, while
the significant role that hydro could play was emphasized through reference to projects such as Grand Inga.
Paolo Frankl, Head of the Renewable Energy Division at IEA, shared updates from the previous meetings held in
Paris and Rio de Janeiro. He emphasized that a key purpose of the present gathering was to discuss and advance
a draft roadmap document that had been recently circulated.
The Hydropower Roadmap is part of a series of documents for different energy sectors being developed by the IEA.
The undertaking is in response to the need to accelerate the development of advanced energy technologies and to
address the global challenges of providing clean energy, climate change and sustainable development. Ministers
from the G8 countries, China, India and South Korea, had acknowledged this need in their June 2008 meeting (held
in Aomori, Japan) when they expressed a desire to have the IEA prepare roadmaps to chart clear paths for the
development and deployment of innovative energy technologies.
The Hydropower Roadmap has the primary objective of defining the path to reach its vision for future development.
This path has two main components:
• identification and delineation of enablers that create opportunities for significant increases in hydropower capacity;
and,
• identification and delineation of impediments that have the potential to limit the growth of hydropower development.
The secondary objective of the Roadmap is to identify the actions and milestones that need to be achieved to meet
the Vision.
To reflect the fact that there is no internationally agreed categorization system for defining micro, small, medium,
and large hydropower projects, the language of the draft differentiates hydro schemes by typology that will include
run-of-river, reservoir, and pumped-storage schemes.
A final Workshop is being planned to take place in South Africa in early 2012, and H&D will again be participating
and reporting on key findings in a subsequent Issue.

Volume 1 v No. 1 v January 2012