Back To Square One At Kaleshwaram Barrages, Baseline Studies After Monsoon Season
These baseline studies are expected to be conducted only towards the end of this year.
Hyderabad:The rehabilitation of the stricken Medigadda barrage, along with those at Annaram and Sundilla, appears headed to square one, with baseline studies of the ground conditions of the Godavari river bed expected to be taken up only after the end of the monsoon season.
That the fundamental studies should have been part of the planning of the three barrages of the Kaleshwaram lift irrigation scheme (KLIS) was stressed upon by the National Dam Safety Authority (NDSA) in its final report submitted to the government. One of NDSA’s recommendations was that “comprehensive geotechnical studies and advanced geophysical assessments” are needed “to establish a reliable baseline of the ground conditions and structures for future interventions.”
As part of this particular mandate, it is learnt that a team of experts from the Central Power and Water Research Station (CWPRS), Pune, visited the three barrages on Thursday for an assessment of the conditions and how the baseline studies could be done.
Sources said that the CWPRS experts concluded that boreholes would need to be dug some 60 metres away from the barrages on both the upstream and downstream sides to establish the baselines for the ground conditions of the river bed. Any such study can only be done after the current monsoon flows in the river subside to allow drilling of boreholes for extracting core samples and their subsequent analysis.
These baseline studies are expected to be conducted only towards the end of this year. With the NDSA expressing concern that the filling up of gaps and voids under the barrages with grouting will affect production of reliable data of conditions in the ground — where the problems arose under the barrages that resulted in seepages at all three barrages, and the sinking of Block 7 at Medigadda —the baseline studies may hold the key for long-term rehabilitation measures and safety of the barrages once all the required repairs are taken up and completed.
