Experts flag concerns over ageing dams in India, other nations
BY 2050, MOST PEOPLE ON EARTH WILL LIVE DOWNSTREAM OF TENS OF THOUSANDS OF DAMS BUILT IN THE 20TH CENTURY, THE REPORT SAID
NEW YORK: Over a thousand large dams in India will be roughly 50 years old in 2025 and such aging structures across the world pose a growing threat, according to a UN report which notes that by 2050, most people on Earth will live downstream of tens of thousands of dams built in the 20th century.
The report, titled ‘Ageing water infrastructure: An emerging global risk’ and compiled by United Nations University’s Canadian-based Institute for Water, Environment and Health, says most of the 58,700 large dams worldwide were constructed between 1930 and 1970 with a design life of 50 to 100 years.
It said at 50 years, a large concrete dam “would most probably begin to express signs of ageing.” Ageing signs include increasing cases of dam failures, progressively increasing costs of dam repair and maintenance, increasing reservoir sedimentation, and loss of a dam’s functionality and effectiveness, “strongly interconnected” manifestations, the report said.
“By 2050, most people on Earth will live downstream of tens of thousands of large dams built in the 20th century, many of them already operating at or beyond their design life,” according to the UN University analysis.
The analysis includes dam decommissioning or ageing case studies from the USA, France, Canada, India, Japan, and Zambia and Zimbabwe.
According to the report, the world is unlikely to witness another large dam-building revolution as in the mid-20th century, but dams constructed then will inevitably be showing their age.
The report said that 32,716 large dams (55 per cent of the world’s total) are found in just four Asian countries: China, India, Japan, and South Korea a majority of which will reach the 50-year threshold relatively soon.
The same is true of many large dams in Africa, South America, and Eastern Europe, it said.
In India, there are over 1,115 large dams that will be roughly 50 years old in 2025, more than 4,250 large dams in the country will be over 50 years old in 2050.