A Real-Time Structural Health Monitoring & Early Warning System has been installed on the Idukki arch dam. This was for the first time in Kerala that such early warning system was installed on a hydel dam. The real-time warning system was implemented through the World Bank project DRIP (Dam Rehabilitation and Improvement Project). Electricity Minister M.M. Mani will inaugurate the project on January 26, said Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) officials.
Supriya S., KSEB chief engineer (dam safety and DRIP), said it helped receive the real-time data from the Idukki reservoir to the server at the KSEB monitoring station at Pallam in Kottayam and and at the dam monitoring and research station, Vazhathoppe, in Idukki district. The water level, weather conditions, temperature, wind pattern, and its level will be available now.
In the second phase of DRIP, the real-time monitoring facility will be installed on other KSEB hydel dams. As an arch dam, Idukki needed large-scale machinery to assure the smooth functioning of the dam, she said.
The new system will be helpful to monitor the motion variation of the dam after the water level reaches the full reservoir level. Earlier, the water level and other data were collected manually.
₹6.94-crore system
According to officials, the installation of a real-time warning system began on the dam in 2016. The total cost of the installation was ₹6.94 crore. The DRIP project was implemented under the supervision of the Central water commission and the State government.
It would help monitor the real-time water level in the times of floods and take timely steps.
In 2018, the KSEB had faced criticism when the dam shutters were opened without giving proper warning in advance. The Idukki reservoir has a good storage in the current season thanks to the unexpected rainfall in the first two weeks of January.
