Thread by @jamewils

Kerala's biggest daily Manorama reports about the prudent dam operations adopted by KSEBL in Pamba reservoir.

Once in a while we get some flowers, as most of the time media throw brickbats! #KeralaRains2020

In 2018 my observations were from sidelines & I was not part of reservoir management. Then responsibility was advising Govt on interstate waters as I was Special Officer for that.

Back now in direct advisory role in dam operations for KSEBL as member of Expert Advisory Group.

I stepped in to defend dam managers, most of them are my colleagues from the same batch, when people/media/politicians w/o understanding nuances of extreme flood events throwing brickbats at the dam managers.

So many of my friends here thought my views are political & trolled

My views are always based on data and analysis. I feel we all should have a responsibility to educate people on esoteric subjects and nuances.

I don't owe allegiance to any political outfit, though I am dead against the RW divisive agenda.

I am answerable to my conscience!

It was depressing that even a literate society like Kerala then reduced the debate to mere binaries that it's a dam induced flood. There are vested interests who added more fire to the burning oil.

2019 & 2020 events shown people that dams are saviours not the bane to us.

Now understand what is done by Kakki and Pamba dams this year.

Before that you should understand that there are only two reservoirs have some capacity to hold the floods.

Look at live storage capacity of reservoirs in Pamba basin

Kakki - 446.57 MCM
Pamba - 31.15 MCM

We have Moozhiyar reservoir but its storage is just 1.16 MCM,

Below Irrigation Department's Maniyar barrage, which has no appreciable storage.

We have small pond at Peruthenaruvi owned by KSEBL and Ullunkal & Karikkayam owned by pvt power producers in Pamba basin.

We have Kullar, Gaviar, Meenar-1 & Meenar-2, all these diverson structures divert their flow to Pamba river.

Azhutha Div scheme diverts to Idukki reservoir.

Upper Moozhiyar diverts to Kakki reservoir.

All the above mentioned structures altogether can only store 9 MCM water.

Most important thing about Pamba reservoir is that Pamba is having a catchment of 2235 sqkm & Kakki- Pamba only intercepts 300 sqkm catchment & REST IS UNREGULATED CATCHMENT.

These reservoirs are able to store only 10.5% of water flowing through Pamba in an year.

So in case of veey heavy or extreme rainfall events, hilly areas have huge inflows which comes at a faster speed of 8 to 9 km/hr from hills & 5 to 6 km/hr in plains.

It takes around less than 20 hours to reach the Arabian sea travel a total length of 176 km of Pamba River

Here my friend @DrAshJac came and made a humours comment when I talked about dam management done this year and asked me what about 2018?

Of course, we mallus are the most sarcastic & critical & entitled society, I am also not different.

So let me explain to him in his lexicon.

Let's assume @DrAshJac is a good surgeon, who performs complex heart surgery with a record of 99% success rate.

But no one praise him for his services, because people did not understand complexities involved.

Suddenly 3 severe heart attack patients to his OR & all need surgery

The good doctor who saved a thousand lives performing complex surgery suddenly faced a problem to choose one patient first.

He performs first surgery successfully and then while attending the second one, the third one dies!

You all throw brick bats at hospital & thrash the doc

So before throwing brickbats at the hospital and lynching the doctor, any learned society will make an enquiry that whether the death was due to negligence or beyond his capacity.

Who will make the enquiry? It should be done by his peers of profession, not by a civil engineer!

In Kerala, because of literacy, we read a lot especially newspapers, it is part of our habit and culture.

But the very newspaper & journalists many times forget that most of the people treat whatever comes as gospel. So they have a responsibility to report facts diligently.

In Kerala, most people think he is an expert, jack of all trades sadly except his own profession!

That I seen during several meetings in my 26 yrs career, when people with narrow specialisation make expert comments on another esoteric area!

Most of us are generalists!

So we all can make analysis on different areas but should be confined up to the patterns emerging from data & analysis.

Now every subject is interdisciplinary & you should transcend boundaries to other areas to excel.

When I make commentary about DeMon or COVID-19, I limit that to its statistical part and resources management part.

I do not try to be an economist or virologist/epidemiologist, if someone asking a comment on those areas, I humbly ask them to listen to experts on that field.

In my last 20 years career, I mainly dealt with inter state water, mostly with TN engineers/administrators/farmers/politicians.

TN value knowledge & expertise than KL people. So they have a culture to respect artists, professionals though mallus think we are superior!

I left my assignment of managing Parambikulam-Aliyar system in 2008 for KSEBL and joined Govt assignment where I did not deal PAP.

Two days back, I had a VC with TN CE & he acknowledged that he heard about my work in PAP from his predecessors, it really surprised me.

When I experience crab culture from my peers, it was overwhelming to hear such a complement from a senior engineer from another State about my work done 12 years back.

Aware that @DrAshJac is an eye surgeon, have great respect for him. Used him to tell a hypothetical narrative!

I believe that to decipher complex issues, I should tell you it in a manner it is easily understandable to layman language.

I am not talking to hydrologists here, I am talking to you, so I should tell things in a manner which is understandable to a majority of my audience.

There was no offence against my friend @DrAshJac, if I need an eye surgery I trust my eyes with him. So no offence please.

This is just to understand the nuances.

I digressed, please come back to Pamba, 2018 & 2020