SHUBHANGI SHIFA
Ranchi, Sept 20: About 200 soil and water management experts from different states, universities and research institutes are set to gather at Birsa Agricultural University (BAU) from September 22 to 24 to discuss ways and means to prevent flood and reservoir sedimentation.
The three-day national conference on ‘Landscape management for preventing flood and reservoir sedimentation’ is being organised by the Indian Association of Soil and Water Conservationists, Dehradun in association with Indian Institute of Soil and Water Conservation (IISWC), Dehradun; BAU, Ranchi; Mahatma Gandhi Integrated Farming Research Institute, Motihari and Indian Agricultural Research Institute, Hazaribagh.
As per the information, Governor Ramesh Bais is to inaugurate the event on September 22 at 1pm. Dr AK Sikka, former DDG (NRM), ICAR will also be present as Guest of Honour on the occasion.
Principal Scientists of IISWC, Dehradun and organising secretaries of the conference, Dr Gopal Kumar and Dr Devashish Mondal informed that India is the worst flood affected country in the world after Bangladesh. The alluvial plains of Ganga and Brahmaputra basin are the most flood prone areas. About 40 million hectare area is flood affected out of which about 18.6 million hectares is affected annually. Annual average crop area affected is about 3.7 million hectares.
They further said that floods are most devastating and account for more than 50 percent of all the climate related disasters in India. An analysis of the Central Water Commission showed an economic loss of Rs 4.69 trillion due to crop, house and other property damages by floods between 1952-2018. The average annual flood damage in India is well above 0.5 percent of the GDP.
They said analysis of sediment deposition in 4,937 reservoirs indicated the average annual percentage capacity loss as 1.04 percent. Siltation of smaller dams poses a serious threat to their ecosystem services as they cater to a wider population for domestic agriculture for industrial purposes.
Projections of monsoon rainfall patterns over the Indian subcontinent indicate a 10 percent increase in the quantity and intensity of rainfall by 2050, leading to an increase in the erosive power of rainfall. It is projected that a one percent increase in rainfall intensity may increase the rainfall erosivity by 2 percent. The high rainfall in a limited time span causes major problems in the form of floods, erosion and drainage congestion in these regions, they added.
The experts, during different technical sessions, will discuss ways and means to effectively meet these challenges and come out with suitable recommendations for planners and governments.
