With the recent United Nations report from the Institute for Water, Environment and Health, the current conversation around the dangers posed by the 126-year-old, structurally unsound, Mullaperiyar dam has only heightened, post heavy rainfall in Kerala. Large public outcry for the decommissioning and reconstruction of the dam situated on the Periyar River followed some of the worst rains and floods in the district of Idukki, the location of the Mullaperiyar dam. The dam has been deemed to be decommissioned because of the danger it poses to five main districts in Kerala– Idukki, Kottayam, Ernakulam, Alappuzha and Thrissur but has been wrapped up in an ongoing dispute between the governments of Tamil Nadu and Kerala in the Supreme Court. This push towards decommissioning has been recommended by the Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee and Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi. The opposition to the decommissioning of the Mullaperiyar comes from the state of Tamil Nadu who operate the dam and are heavily dependent on the water from the dam for irrigation and electricity generation. One of the reasons for the decommissioning of the dam is its location in an acknowledged seismic zone which has led to damage of the construction following mild earthquakes which occurred in 1979 and 2011. According to reports, roughly around 35 lakh people will be immediately affected in Kerala, with devastating future consequences. Expert consensus has declared the dam has far outlived its intended lifespan of 50 years with the technology that the dam was constructed on, which is now dangerously obsolete. This is more concerning especially when taking into account Kerala’s recent increase in rainfall over the past few years, leading to heavy floods, large-scale displacement, landslides and flash floods. The mounting pressure on the dam is worrying because of the consequent dangers to other dams and reservoirs within the state, which would be damaged in the event of a break in the Mullaperiyar dam. The Chief Minister of Kerala, Pinarayi Vijayan in a statement directed towards the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, mentioned that the recent flooding in the State had forced the dams in three other districts to be opened to reduce the pressure on the Mullaperiyar dam, causing 38 deaths in flood related incidents. However, most recently, the Supreme Court on the 25th of October, 2021 expressed concern about the structural improvisation of the dam and the threat of rising water levels. The court has allowed for the setting up of a supervisory committee to decide on the maximum water level permitted in light of the increasingly possible disastrous consequences that a break may have for the state of Kerala.
10 Jan 2022
Hannah Sarasu John
