why we cannot see wells construction in the himalayan region
Answers
Answer:
cause they get water from Himalayas itself
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Answer:
Explanation: Despite growing climate threats, politicians and developers are ignoring geological and environmental risks in a rush to make short-term profits by building hydroelectric dams in the Himalayas
History shows large dams too often leave local communities suffering from environmental damage and lack of water and without even the benefits of power – which is largely produced for export to other regions or countries. The ICIMOD review also fails to look at the cumulative impact of the huge number of large dam projects underway or the major geological risks in what is the world’s youngest and highest mountains and thus most seismically unstable.
This silence in the HKH assessment report is reflective of a dangerous trend in the HKH region. Dam builders and government regulators are strategically ignoring climate change and geological risks in a rush to make short-term profits, argues new research from Amelie Huber at the University of Barcelona. The findings are based on interviews with hydropower developers, government officials and donor agencies in northeast India and published in journal Water. They paint a disturbing picture of negligence and even conspiracy in the hydropower sector.
Spotlight on northeast India
In India, large scale privatisation led to a hydropower boom from 2000, with public rivers contracted out to private investors with government financial support and tax breaks. India’s 2008 hydropower policy gave hydro developers concessions that insulate them from risk and help them maximise profit.
The research paper takes a closer look at the hydro scene in Sikkim, one of India’s most environmentally progressive states. By 2007, Sikkim had signed 24 Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) with private and public sector entities for development of 5,000 MW in five years. Nearby Arunachal Pradesh signed 130 MoUs by 2010 for 40,000 MW. With no formal hydropower policy these agreements thrived on speculative investments and political brokering. Private companies – often working with public companies – have minimal accountability or experience in the hydropower sector, and include companies from logistics, real estate and tourism.
The 510 MW Teesta V hydropower plant in central Sikkim was one of the first large scale projects in the state, commissioned in 2008 by the National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC). Villages above the reservoir and dam site reported perpetual sinking of the mountain slope, as a result of the cyclical release of impounded water. There was also visible damage of cracked buildings and agricultural land and an increase in landslides. This led to further displacement sometimes long after project construction, and in most cases the displaced haven’t been able to get any compensation. Other villages had to be moved after cracks emerged in the mountains, and because of risks of flash floods from the dam reservoirs and tunnel leaks.
These problems are common in run of the river dams – the new standard in the Himalayas. The area submerged by the dam is smaller, but they require an extensive network of underground tunnels carrying river water to a powerhouse located several kilometres downstream. These tunnels affect places further away and are systematically ignored in environment impact assessments (EIA).
What’s more, the paper highlights the deeper failure of the Indian government and hydropower industry to tackle climate issues. None of the publicly available EIAs or management plans for hydropower in Sikkim consider climate change. And India’s Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change has no written position on climate change adaptation in the hydropower sector. Sikkim’s state action plan on climate change also steers clear of hydropower and associated risks. The state disaster management authority has taken no steps to prepare for dam induced disasters, saying that dam risks are exclusively monitored by hydropower companies themselves.
Senior government officials interviewed for the research paper tried to downplay risks or retreat from responsibility. One NHPC official explained that without scientific data climate change was too uncertain to consider in a project’s EIA. Since the companies try to recover investment as quickly as possible, and licences only last 35 years, investing in precautionary measures doesn’t fit their economic model.
Locals sidelined
The government and developers have dismissed evidence provided by local people of the impact of hydropower projects in Sikkim. People report sinking and degradation of land around dam sites, soil drying up and springs disappearing, which are the main source of agriculture and domestic water. In Assam, people have had more success opposing large dams, where the struggle against the Lower Subansiri mega hydropower project shows the potential for challenging such projects.