There are 5334 large dams in India and about 411 are under construction. In addition, there are several thousands smaller dams. All of these dams are vital for ensuring the water security of the country in a sustainable manner and regulating water during the rainy season to prevent floods.
However, today many of these dams are facing various structural deficiencies as well as shortcomings in the operation and monitoring facilities. There are also inadequacies in complying with the current design standards and philosophy. These conditions affect the safety of the structures and pose risks to life and properties of people downstream of dam.
DHARMA has been designed and developed to enhance the capacity of individuals and organisations throughout India to manage their dam assets scientifically and professionally so as to sustain advantages of dams (irrigation and water supply, flood control, hydropower etc) and prevent disasters. DHARMA will address four main challenges as described below :
There are many stakeholders involved in any dam project, including dam owners, operators, consultants, contractors and suppliers. Often, in the dec- ades following commissioning, the details of these stakeholders can be mis- placed thus denying access to valuable information, insights and skills.
DHARMA will ensure that details of all stakeholders are recorded and maintained. Such details may pertain to individuals as well as organi- sational entities associated with dam planning and design, construc- tion, operation and maintenance, and rehabilitation.
Today, local and State authorities maintain limited information concerning their dam asses. This gap in information not only affects routine operation and maintenance but also decisions on policy, budgeting and rehabilitation.
DHARMA will enable gathering and updating of dam asset infor- mation in a centralised and structured manner so as to overcome limi- tations of multiplicity of agencies, wide geographical spread, volumi- nous data, varied terminologies and units, unknown and mismatched time reference and inconsistent formats.
Well established procedures exist for periodical dam health assessment through routine inspections and detailed investigations wherever required. However, dam asset information in its current form and format often does not show the time dependent variations in dam health condition.
DHARMA will ensure prompt capturing of inspection and investigation data directly by the 'Dam Health Engineers and provide tools for correct analysis and interpretation of this timeline data.
Effective asset management can only be achieved with engagement of key stakeholders, completeness of information and access to appropriate tools- a requirement which is not being met for most of dams in India.
DHARMA will provide a complete data collection and management platform for assimilation of varied information for every dam compo- nent across all dam projects, also thereby benefiting from the insights and learning curves of a wider stakeholder spectrum.
The main features of DHARMA are presented below :
