Penstock Pipe Burst – Kopili Dam under the aegis of NEEPCO, Assam

The 275 MW Kopili Dam Power House of NEEPCO (North Eastern Electric Power Corporation Limited, a Union
Ministry of Power Underaking) in Assam took a major hit on Oct 7, 2019 following the burst of the penstock pipe
that takes water from the Umrangso dam to the hydropower house during early hours at around 04.30 AM in
Assam’s Dima Hasao district.

The burst in the pipe caused a fountain that rose several hundred feet and continued to do so for hours. According
to eyewitnesses, the massive quantity of water erupted from the ruptured penstock pipe entered the power
house, following which, three identified employees of NEEPCO and one unidentified contract worker were
reportedly feared to have killed. A large portion of the Kopili Hydro Electric Plant was inundated and a temporary
bridge also got washed away. NEEPCO sought help from the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and the
paramilitary Assam Rifles for the search and rescue operations and opened all gates of the dam to reduce the
water flow to the powerhouse.

The authorities of NEEPCO are blaming the rat-hole coal mining in Meghalaya for the accident. Located on the
southern bank of the Brahmaputra river that flows through the Assam valley, the Kopili dam is on the river with the
same name. The Kopili river flows down to the Brahmaputra from the Meghalaya plateau in the south, and are
now infamous for carrying coal slurry and acids used in rat-hole mining in Meghalaya. This practice, of creating
narrow holes of about a meter in diameter in which only one person can enter, has been banned by the National
Green Tribunal of India

The primary investigation reports from NEEPCO states that, acids from the slurry corroded the pipe that was
designed to bring water, at a rate of 12,000 litres per second. NEEPCO officials say that since 2007, they have been
warning the Central, Assam and Meghalaya governments about the acid-laced water, but no one listened to them.
Most independent experts agree that pipes at the Kopili project have been affected by acidic water. But even after
knowing this, NEEPCO continued to operate the dam and the power station without any specific contingency plan
resulted in such devastation.

Source: Google, NEEPCO website