Wednesday, May 28, 2008

TEHRI DAM IS A TIME BOMB - SAVE PEOPLE

Prof.T.Shivaji Rao,
Director, Centre for Environmental Studies,
Gitam University, Visakhapatnam-530 045

Tehri Dam project has been taken up and completed by the Government of India inspite of the misgivings expressed on the safety of the project by the former Prime Minister Mrs.Indira Gandhi and also a large number of eminent seismologists and environmentalists from all over the world. The Government of India working at the behest of vested interests among the officials, politicians, contractors and the civil engineers brushed aside on scientific, technical and environmental objections completed the project even without making the disaster management plans including risk analysis as per laws under the environmental Protection Act, 1986. Even the courts were not furnished with full information on the safety aspects of the project. Since International experts in seismology have predicted catastrophic earthquakes of over 8.5 magnitude in the area, a review of the project must be made like in USA to save the people.The following extracts and figures indicate the nature and magnitude of the problem.
http://cires.colorado.edu/~bilham/HimHazardScience.html
http://www.gitam.edu/cos/env/tehri/tehridam.html
http://profshivajirao.googlepages.com/tehridam
















Monday, February 25, 2008

WEATHER MODIFICATION - CLOUD SEEDING IS EFFECTIVE AND SUCCESSFUL

Many meteorologists, scientists, engineers, bureaucrats and politicians are sometimes arguing that cloud seeding operations are not scientific, successful and effective. Such arguments are not at all correct from the point of view of promoting public health, agricultural and industrial development and the economic prosperity of the people. Management consultants say that cloud seeding project sponsors may be classified typically either as those who “Do things right” or who “ Do the right things”. The project sponsors of cloud seeing who “Do things right” produce results with high efficiency and thereby obtain the best possible output from the resources. Similarly the sponsors of cloud seeding who employ the right people for the job which means doing the right things also contribute for the effectiveness of the operations. It means the project sponsors are setting the right goals and right objectives in terms of the additional rainfall needed for different crops or other purposes during different seasons at different places .They are also making sure that the right experts and right instruments and machinery like the right aeroplanes and the right ground generators in sufficient numbers are employed and the timely assistance from thedifferent authorities issuing permits for operations is secured and thereby make sure that the set targets of the operations are accomplished. Some experts say that it takes firstly the organisational efficiency in terms of engaging the right experts and right equipment and secondly an enlightened leadership to produce effectiveness of the operations. Thus effectiveness is a measure of the ability of the cloud seeding project operators to produce the specific desired effect or the result that can qualitatively or quantitatively be measured. However effectiveness must be distinguished from “Efficiency” which is measured by the volume of the output produced for the input used. Hence efficiency is closely related to “Productivity”as set by the target. Either due to inefficiency or vested interests if the sponsors are not able to employ the most qualified and experienced experts as managers and scientists and efficient aeroplanes are not employed,naturally efficiency suffers and the effectiveness of the project falls down.

There should be high levels of integrity,service motive,empowered employees and organisational cooperation to ensure high level success to produce a specific desired result that can be measured in terms of people's prosperity.

In the case of cloud seeding operations no worthwhile scientist ever questioned about the scientific basis of cloud seeding because Vincent Schaefer and Irwing Langmuir have established the scientific basis both by laboratory work and field operations conducted in 1946 in New York suburbs in United States. Some people are also questioning cloud seeding operations saying that they are not successful and effective and that they cause adverse effects.see web pages:

http://books.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=10829&page=R1

some people also question whether the rain that is claimed due to cloud seeding is due to natural causes or only due to cloud seeding and how can one distinguish between them?

To the several pessimistic questions raised on cloud seeding by the Experts of the US National Science Academy,the Academic and Field Experts of the American Weather Modification Association,Fresno,California furnished their reasoned replies in the web pages:

http://www.weathermodification.org/images/FinalReport.pdf

Prof.Roland List,another giant among world experts on weather Modification has also made an an indepth analysis of the Report of the Experts of the US Academy of Sciences on Critical Issues in Weather Modification[October,2003] and presented very cogent arguments in favour of large scale promotion of cloud seeding operations in a scientific paper under the web pages:

http://ams.confex.com/ams/pdfpapers/88878.pdf.

Most of these unfounded fears about cloud seeding operations are answered in the form of Questions and answers

1.What are the statistical methods used for checking the results of cloud seeding operations? Are there other methods for evaluation of the success of cloud seeding operations ?

Expert scientists of the National Academy of USA in their report of 2003 concluded that we have still to employ methods of cloud seeding that produce credible and repeatable changes in precipitation and that there is no still convincing scientific proof of the efficacy of man made weather modification efforts. It is stated that in some cases like mixed phase hygroscopic seeding and Orographic cold cloud seeding there are strong indications of positive effects but such evidence of encouraging result has not been subjected to tests of significance and reproducibility. The experts affirmed that this does not challenged the scientific basis of weather modification concepts. They stated that despite this lack of scientific proof of cloud seeding programmes to increase snowfall and rainfall and to suppress hail formation are continued in several countries in the world on the basis of cost benefit analysis.
The experts agreed with the conclusion of Silverman(2001) that the experiments of the past 4 decade have not yet provided either the statistical or physical evidence required to establish their scientific validity.

Seeding effects are assessed by comparing the amounts of rainfall in a target area as compared with that from a control area and there is no randomization. Measurements were made over the same fixed geographical areas and comparisons were made between measurements taking during the seeding period and those from a period without seeding. Alternatively control area is selected adjacent to the target area with similar meteorological and geographical characteristics and results compared from the 2 areas during the same time periods. This does not allow for biases arising from temporal or spatial trends occurring during the trial period. But a more statistically robo studies design known as a cross-over design uses two similar fixed areas so that for each test one out of the two fixed areas is chosen for treatment by a random process while the other areas serves as the control. It is inferred from these experiments that the seeding effects were based on physical measurements but the data were not sufficient to reach the statistical conclusions and new statistical methods need to be explored.
2.How are chemical tracers useful in proving that cloud seeding works effectively?
During the last 4 decades cloud seeding operations have been conducted with some consultants injecting chemical tracers to study the effectiveness of operations. Warburten in his research work in Central Sierra, Nevada (1978-1992) estimated the background concentration of silver in snow samples at 2 parts per trillion so that silver from AgI seeding from ground generators can be easily detected while silver detection in snow fall is the useful measure it is done by using ground generators and hence it may be more useful to make in-cloud measurements of the seeding clouds themselves. Sometime sulfur hexafluoride was used for making quantitative measurements with less than a 1-second time length. Subsequently indium and silver were used as tracers that provide the possibility of calculating directly the amount of enhanced precipitation. Indium Oxide In2 O3 is a non-water soluble and a non-ice nucleating agent with about same particle size as the ice-nucleating silver iodide (AgI) these 2 agents are released at the same place and time by the ground generators. The snow is sampled from the snow gauging stations down wind for detection and analysis of Indium and Silver. The excess amount of silver over indium in the sample is a measure of the additional amount of precipitation due to seeding and in the case of sampling at lake Almanor , California the Ag/I ratio indicated 4 times as much silver as indium and this ratio is used to estimate the quantity of additional precipitation. According Warburten one ground generator is required to seed 40 sq.miles in the Sierra, mountains and one gram of AgI precipitates 420 cubic meters of water on the ground. AgI in snow is non-toxic since its concentration is very small, that is 4 orders of magnitude below the toxic levels specified. The purpose of simultaneous release of Indium Oxide and silver iodide from the ground generators is to differentiate between the silver content present from ice nucleation and that present from the scavenging of the silver iodide and also the concentration of indium present from scavenging of the chemical. According to aerosol emission rates from ground generators it is found that if AgI is captured only by scavenging, the silver to indium ratio (Ag:In) would be 0.8 but experiment shown that analysis of snow samples collected from cloud seeding operations produced ratios of AgI/Indium above 1.10, thereby showing that some of the snowfall occurred by artificial nucleation. In one of the experiments recorded silver concentration was 180 parts per trillion (background concentration 2 to 4 ppt) and silver to indium ratios were the order of 20:1 indicating that cloud seeding is not only a success but also has a strong scientific foundation.

3.Will chemicals used for cloud seeding cause damage to public health and environment?
Chemicals like Sodium Chloride, Calcium Chloride, Silver Iodide and dry ice are used as nuclei to seed the warm clouds and cold clouds. It is necessary to know what will be their short term and long term effects on the environment. Estimates made in USA indicate that due to the use of silver iodide for cloud seeding operations in 1977 the amount of silver iodide worked out to 1500kgs. According to EPA reports of 1973 about 360mg of silver enters into the atmosphere over USA. In the rain water samples obtained by cloud seeding operations silver concentration is estimated at 10-12 that is one part per billion (ppb). Since AgI is not soluble in water it does not readily get into the sea but tends to be deposited in the soil and the bottom of stream beds. The research investigations conducted up to 1977 indicate that this chemical has not posed any threat to the ecological systems. Silver has been detected at 10 nano-grams to less than 0.1 micro grams per litre in the rain water samples collected from the cloud seeding operations. The US authorities specified drinking water standards with the safe concentration of silver at 50 micrograms per litre. The values of silver in the precipitation samples in the Montana project was 1/50 to 1/500 of the limiting values set by the US public health service for silver in drinking water.

Similarly the iodine concentration in the rain water samples collected at the end of cloud seeding operation is found to be far lower in concentration than that found in the common iodized table salt used by the people.

During the experiments conducted for 11 years at Baramati, warm cloud seeding operations were done by sprinkling common salt powder into the clouds from the aeroplanes. The analysis of the rain water samples collected after the experiments indicated the concentration of chloride at 10mg/litre while sodium was present at 4.5 mg/litre. Hence these chemicals are not at all harmful to the public health and the environment.

4.Does cloud seeding in one area affect precipitation in another down-wind side region ?
In other words, does cloud seeding amount to Robbing Peter to pay Paul?A common wrong impression regarding cloud seeding is to consider the atmosphere as a static pool of cloud water passing over the earth, which is a limited steady state supply of water.

With this conceptual model, it is easy to argue that because this supply is limited and we remove a percentage of the water by cloud seeding in the form of precipitation from the
atmosphere in one area, there will be less moisture available to fall as precipitation from the cloud at other (downwind) locations because a larger fraction of this fixed supply of water in the cloud was already
removed at the first instance in another (upwind) location.
Common man does not know that the atmosphere does not behave in this simplistic manner. Clouds are fortunately the systems that continuously process moist air from the atmosphere. They are created when tiny water droplets get formed when the cooling rising air with moisture ascends into the sky.

In a typical precipitation cap-cloud ascending over a mountain, if it is assumed that the ascending water vapour mass is cloud-free, about 20% of the water vapour in the ascending air mass condenses and forms a cloud. Out of this about 20% comes down as rainfall from the cloud. Hence only 4% of the atmospheric water vapour amounting to 100(0.20 x 0.20) = 4% is thus removed. If it is assumed that the cloud seeding operations increase the rainfall by 20% then the additional water vapour removed from the ascending cloud vapour in the sky works out to 100 (0.20 x 0.04) =0.8% and this is a relatively insignificant amount and hence only a trivial reduction in the total atmospheric reservoir of water vapour would occur in the region downwind of a target area. According to scientists of South Africa about 6 million cubic meters of moisture passes over the country every day in its sky out of which 5% gets precipitated as rainfall. Out of this rainfall 60% is returning to the sky through evaporation from the rivers, lakes and plants. It means that 40% of the rain amounting to 2% of the atmospheric moisture (1,20,000 m3) is left in South Africa. But cloud seeding operations produce about 25% additional rainfall. Out of this additional rainfall only 40% remains over land while 60% again returns to the atmosphere due to evaporation. Thus cloud seeding operations are capable of squeezing only a very small fraction of the atmospheric moisture flow in the skies. This inconsequential small fraction of the atmospheric moisture obtained through cloud seeding operations cannot cause adverse impacts on the normal rainfall anticipated in the areas downwind of the target area selected for the operations.

Depending upon its size the life of a cloud may be 30 minutes to 60 minutes. If we are not able to use the cloud in proper time for seeding operations and squeeze its water content in the form of precipitation this cloud may dissipate as moisture. Hence there is no guarantee that this cloud will remain in tact for such a long time beyond its life time to give rain in another region downwind of the target area. Based upon local environmental conditions like meteorology and topography the cloud downwind of a mountain may descend and get dissipated without giving rain in the rain shadow area. However if the area downwind contains good forests or mountains the moisture gets replenished again and the newly formed cloud may provide more rainfall to the areas down wind of the target areas.

Precipitation data from many cloud seeding projects in the USA have been examined in detail for evidence of extra area effects. There are not statistically significant indications of rainfall/snowfall decreases downwind from any long term cloud seeding project.so,there is no question of robbing Peter to pay Paul

5. Is the NRC panel report on Weather Modification of the US Academy of Sciences of 2003 justified in adversely commenting on the conduct of cloud seeding operations?

The adverse comments of the mass media in the United States on the report f the NRC panel of National Academy of Sciences of 2003 are not justified because the report has made many positive comments on the promotion of cloud seeding under suitable conditions. The experts themselves stated that the science behind cloud seeding is well founded and that the results for fog dispersal in the airports, warm cloud seeding in some regions and cold cloud seeding under orographic conditions have shown positive results. Inspite of these basic positive aspects of cloud seeding still the experts panel demanded for reproducibility of results to establish the soundness of the programmes presently under execution in different states in USA and in different countries in the world. It must be admitted that Weather systems are subject to very many variables and hence the conclusion made in 2003 by NRC panel of the US Academy of Sciences that there is no convincing scientific proof of the efficacy of weather modification efforts in USA is highly damaging to the very survival needs of man and Nature. Simultaneously, the NRC report frankly admits that this does not challenge the scientific basis of Weather Modification concepts. Further they admit that recent hygroscopic experiments showed increases in precipitation and lifetime of rain-producing systems and that positive seeding effects occured in clouds systems over mountainous terrain. Hence their demand for reduction of basic scientific uncertainities before proceeding for conducting cloud seeding operations amounts to their blocking the pathways for securing proofs for minimising the so called innumerable scientific uncertainities.In fact the scientists of the Chinese academy of sciences have done adequate research work to affirm that by cloud seeding operations they can fight the droughts to promote public welfare which is the basic objective all scientific investigations.
see the following web sites for detailed information on the success stories:

http://english.people.com.cn/english/200007/14/eng20000714_45496.html
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2006-06-29-china-rain_x.htm
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/science/earth/stories/s1157040.htm
http://video.google.co.uk/videoplay?docid=8262483364410309502&q=discovery
Hence cloud seeding operations should not be stopped to merely satisfy the theoretical curiosity of a few unaccountable scientists of US Academy of sciences by sacrificing the interests of the millions of people who suffer irreparable losses including their right to safe water, right to health, right to life and the right to livelihood.Since water is BLUE GOLD that promotes the public welfare any attempts by any group of scientists will amount to promotion of poverty, disease, unemployment and social unrest and terrorism that disturbs peace in all countries of the world and so the responsible scientists must reconsider their negative approach to cloud seeding.

But the field and academic experts of Weather Modification Association of USA in their response to NRC expert panel report of 2003 have observed as follows: The NRC panel was asked to identify critical uncertainties limiting advances in weather modification science and operations and to identify future directions in weather modification research and operations for improving the management of water resources and the reduction in severe weather hazards, among other things. They were to do this even though the panel members collectively had very limited experience or knowledge in weather modification operations, especially in recent years. But in the Snowy Mountains cloud seeding operations, the results of 2004 snow chemistry analysis confirmed that the primary target areas were effectively seeded during most of the storm events.Snow samples after seeding indicated silver concentrations of 180ppt[as against back-ground levels of 2ppt,parts per trillion] and Silver-indium ratios were of the order of 20:1 over the target areas.In the light of this new evidence and in view of the results of the Chinese Academy of Scientists,it is essential for us to realize that cloud seeding has attained the stage of passing the operational tests and hence cloud seeding must be treated as an effective weapon to fight the Droughts,floods,hurricanes,hail storms,fogs and impacts of global warming.

6.How can you prove that the precipitation at a given place occured due to natural causes or due to cloud seeding operations?

This is a common question raised by many people.since early days of cloud seeding operations,the tha managers of the operations tried to prove this fact that cloud seeding augments precipitation.For the purpose,they used to select in a given area two sets of similar clouds and treat one set with chemical seeding and kept the second set of clouds as controls.At the end of the experiment,they found that the seeded cloud gave about 50% more precipitation than the non-seeded cloud used as the control.such observations were confirmed by both the radar observations and by collecting precipitation samples which were checked for the presence of trace concentrations of the chemicals used for cloud seeding.

statistical methods were also used by demarcating one area for seeding,another for control and yet another for non-seeded area by establishing rain gauges in all these areas for collecting samples of precipitation and calculations were made to establish the degree of additional precipitation in the seeded area by statistical basis by randomisation.The latest methods apply the Indium tracer method.

The effectiveness of cloud seeding is confirmed by Indium Tracer as detailed below

Chai et al. [1993] reported on chemical tracer studies conducted as part of the 1984-1985 winter cloud seeding program at Lake Almanor, California. In the technique originated by Warburton et al. [1985], AgI aerosol and Indium sesquioxide (InO ) were released from collocated, ground-based generators. InO is a water insoluble, non-ice-nucleating substance. The purpose of making collocated releases was to differentiate between the silver content in the snow that was present from ice nucleation and that present from scavenging of the AgI. Based on aerosol emission rates, Chai et al. [1993] computed that if AgI is captured only by scavenging, the silver to indium ratio (Ag:In) would be 0.8. Analysis of snow samples frequently produced ratios in excess of 1.1, thereby suggesting that some of the snowfall occurred by artificial nucleation. Further analysis showed that snowfall at sites closer to the generator had higher Ag:In ratios than could be explained by a contact-freezing mechanism. Chai et al. [1993] suggested that the ratios could be explained if a condensation-freezing mechanism operated immediately after generation.

http://www.agu.org/revgeophys/czys01/node4.html
Results of the 2004 snow chemistry analysis, have confirmed that the primary target and upwind mountain ranges were being seeded effectively during most storm events, both in the concentrations of chemicals monitored and in the silver to indium ratio. Prevailing
winds in seeded storms were predominately from northwest counter-clockwise through southwest. The
Recorded Silver concentrations were as high as 180 ppt and Silver-Iindium ratios of the order of 20:1, over the central part of the target area.

http://ams.confex.com/ams/pdfpapers/88851.pdf

Thus,there are several methods to prove that cloud seeding alone augments the rain-fall or snow-fall.

Reasoning by Ian Searle to dispel the Doubts about negative impacts of cloud seeding

http://www.abc.net.au/rn/science/earth/stories/s1157040.htm

Snowy Hydro, the company running the Cloud seeding experiment at nsSnowy Mountains, Australia, believes that it’s a safe technology and they hope to increase snowfalls up to 30%, giving a big boost to their water storages.

A] Ian Searle , a true believer in the effectiveness of cloud seeding. , worked in the field for 37 years and until recently was Hydro- Tasmania’s Cloud-Seeding Manager.” In our best year”,says Searle,” we would expect maybe 120 millimetres of extra rain;and in a drought year, it might only be 25 millimetres to 50 millimetres, but that is still significant, and it still pays for the operation quite handsomely”.

B] “Let me first say that the cost of silver iodide, at $500 per kilogram, is a fairly minor part of the total cost. The aeroplane is expensive; we have staff costs and the like. So we end up paying about $1-million a year, or a bit more now .To run a successful cloud-seeding program. , how we do it, is really quite simple. The aeroplane is fitted with two tanks, which have at the rear end of them, a burning chamber, very much like a blowtorch. And we dissolve the silver iodide in acetone, and spray it out through these blowtorch-type devices and light it up with a sparkplug, so the acetone is burned away, the silver iodide is left in the cloud in very tiny crystals, they’re quite microscopic. But only tiny amounts of silver iodide are necessary to start the rain falling process. So in a whole day of cloud seeding, we might only use two or three kilograms of silver iodide, and that’s spread over many thousands of square kilometres of cloud.

we would spend about $1-million a year running the program, but it was worth, by my estimation, about $20-million extra to the company, in extra water storage or extra energy generated through the power stations”

C] To the Question if cloud seeding in one area deprives the down-wind areas of their normal rain-fall,Searle says,” From the very beginning, the first CSIRO experiments that were conducted in Tasmania, had within their design a program to analyse rainfalls in the downwind regions as well as in our target area and in control areas and other surrounding regions. And in every case, an analysis of the rainfalls in the downwind direction, showed no significant decreases in rainfall at all. In worldwide experiments, it has been discovered that the increased rainfall continues for 200 or 300 kilometres in the downwind direction generally, unless there is a major change in the topography; if there are mountain ranges or large valleys or somesuch that modifies the weather far more than the cloud seeding does. And so in Tasmania we have no significant detriment in the downwind direction. certainly in the Snowy Mountains region, you have up-slopes to quite high mountain ranges, and then there is plateauing off or a downwind side in which there is a rain shadow zone. Once you get into that rain shadow region, the seeding effect cuts off quite dramatically, because you have a descending air mass and that modifies the cloud structure far more than the cloud seeding ever will do”

D] To the Question if Silver iodide will not damage the Environment,Searle states thus” Firstly, there’s been a tremendous amount of scientific work done on the toxicology of silver iodide. They’ve fed it to rainbow trout in high concentrations with no detrimental effect. They’ve planted all sorts of plant species in pots with high concentrations of silver iodide in the soil, with no detrimental effect.


The second thing is we use such tiny amounts of it; it’s distributed in the atmosphere at relatively high altitudes. Only a portion of it actually comes down in the rain, and when it does, it gets locked up in the soil, because silver iodide has an affinity for the clays within the soil.


The third thing is that it’s not soluble in water, and is generally for that reason, not taken up into biotic systems. So if you were to ingest silver iodide, as they did with the rainbow trout, it would pass through their alimentary canal without being taken up into the bloodstream, and it just does not have any detrimental effect, certainly not in the quantities which we use”.



Tuesday, February 12, 2008

HOW TO INCREASE CAUVERY WATER FLOWS?

Prof.T.Shivaji Rao,
Director, Centre for Environmental Studies,
Institute of Science,Gitam University,
Visakhapatnam-45

According to the draft agreement on Cauvery waters circulated by Karnataka Government in 1981 it has been stated that the annual yield in Cauvery basin above and upto delta based upon the river flow data from the year 1900 upto 1972 is 792 TMC In the Cauvery delta itself rainfall provides about 230 TMC of water per year and according to UNDP it is estimated that about 88TMC of this rainfall contribution by the delta portion of Cauvery river will be available for use and thus the total surface flows in the entire Cauvery basin including its delta region would be 792 +88 = 880 TMC per year. Out of this the Karnataka Government suggested that Kerala may be allotted 43TMC, Puduchcheri 9 TMC, while the remaining water could be equally distributed it mean Karnataka and Tamil Nadu to an extent of 414 TMC for each state. However Tamil Nadu Government suggested in 1981 that the Chief Ministers of the basin states accepted the report of the Union Government fact finding committee on Cauvery in 1972 and the findings are

1. Existing ayacut is 35.57 lakh acres including 28.21 lakhs in Tamil Nadu, 6.83 lakhs in Karnataka and 0.53 lakhs in Kerala. Similarly existing utilization of Cauvery waters is 748 TMC comprising 566 TMC by Tamil Nadu 177 TMC by Karnataka and 5 TMC by Kerala. The Tamil Nadu will agree to formation of the Cauvery Valley Authority vested with powers to regulate the flows from the Karnataka reservoirs as per 1924 agreement. The Government of India made a draft proposal in 1976 suggesting that the Cauvery water utilization is agreed for 67 TMC comprising 489 TMC by Tamil Nadu, 177 TMC by Karnataka and 5 TMC by Kerala and the surplus waters above 671 TMC shall be shared in the ratio 30:53:17 among Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala respectively and that at the end of 15 years the savings of 125 TMC effected in the river basin be allocated at 4 TMC to Tamil Nadu, 87 TMC to Karnataka and 34 TMC to Kerala.

2. The latest final Cauvery tribunal award has determine the annual average flow of Cauvery as 740 TMC out of which allocations are made for 419TMC to Tamil Nadu, 270 to Karnataka, 30 TMC to Kerala . 7 TMC to Puduchcheri, 10 TMC for Ecological purposes and 4 TMC for losses into the sea.

3. Except the state of Puduchcheri all the other 3 states namely Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu are very much unhappy about the tribunal award for one reason or the other Although the tribunal did hard and commendable work for over 16 years made indepth examinations of the records and the arguments presented by the eminent advocates representing the different basin states.

IRRIGATED AREA AND RIVE WATER ALLOCATIONS BY TRIBUNAL

Item

Kerala

Karnataka

Tamil Nadu

Remarks

1 (a) Drainage area (sq.km)

(b) Drainage area ( percent)

2866

3.5

34,273

42

43,868

54

--

2. (a) Net Sown area ( sq.km)

(b) Net sown area (percent)

1135

40

14480

42

20812

47

--

3. (a) Net irrigated area (sq.km)

(b) Net irrigated area (percent)

216

19

2706

19

8804

42

--

4. 75% Dependable yields

(a) TMC

(b) Percent

114

17

355

53

201

30

670

5. 50% Dependable yields

(a) TMC

(b) Percent

126

17

392

53

222

30

740

6. (a) Demand before tribunal

(b) Tribunal allocation (TMC)

100

30

465

270

562

419

1127

719

Chronological Development of Irrigated Lands

Land Particulars ( in lakh acres)

Tamil Nadu

Karnataka

1. Lands accepted for water allocation

29.26

27.29

2. Claim accepted for water supply

24.71

18.85

3. Pre 1924 irrigated lands

15.20

3.44

4. Lands irrigated under 1924 agreement

6.20

7.24

5. Lands irrigated outside 1924 agreement

2.06

6.91

6. Minor irrigation

1.25

1.26

Total land allowed for water utilization by the tribunal

24.71

18.85

1. The tribunal allocated 7 TMC for Puduchcheri, 10 TMC for ecological purposes and 4 TMC for losses into sea, making a total of 21 TMC.

2. The tribunal accepted the demand of Tamil Nadu for ignoring the utilization of ground water in estimating the Cauvery river flow for allocation to the states. However the claim of Tamil Nadu for considering 75% dependable river flow for allocation was ignored. Similarly the point of measurement for inflows from Karnataka into Mettur dam to be located at this dam site was also ignored.

3. The Karnataka state was favoured by the Tribunal by lifting the sealing on irrigated land 11.2 lakh acres by the interim award. The demand of Karnataka that the point of water supply to be delivered to Tamil Nadu to be shifted from Mettur dam site to another suitable point at the inter state border was accepted by the tribunal fixed Biligundlu for the purpose.

4. The argument of Karnataka for considering the annual average flow of river with 50% dependability was also accepted by the tribunal. However the river water utilization in Karnataka by lifting schemes was not allowed by the tribunal.

5. Since Tamil Nadu was growing high water consuming paddy crops which require 1 TMC of water for 5000 to 6000 acres. The state had to be considered equitable distribution that envisages protection for the existing ayacut that covered most of the plain delta lands.

6. In case of Karnatkaa while some lands were under high water consuming sugarcane and paddy cultivation. Several lands were developed as irrigated dry crop lands which use less water.

7. Before 1924 Tamil Nadu was using about 400 TMC of water for paddy cultivation in morethan 15 lakh acres while Karnataka was using about 100 TMC to irrigate about three and half lakh acres. During the subsequent period while Tamil Nadu increased its agriculture land by about 10 lakh acres and used ultimately about 500 TMC of water, Karnataka undoubtedly raised crops over 15 lakh acres and ultimately used about 280 TMC of water. Although Tamil Nadu produces only 30% of the annual river flow it uses more than 55% of the river water and most of this water comes from the catchment of the river in Kerala where hevy rainfall occurs during the southwest monsoon. Karnataka genuinely feels that the award unjustice because while Karnataka receives rainfall only during the southwest monsoon, Tamil Nadu enjoys considerable rainfall in southwest monsoon and bountiful rainfall in Northeast monsoon. However the demand of water allocation by 562 TMC to Tamil Nadu and 465 TMC to Karnataka are both unusual and impossible to negotiate because of lack of that amount of water in the river itself. However the Karnataka people strongly feel that their present share of 270 TMC must be increased to about 350 TMC. Similarly Kerala demands that it share should be raised from 30 TMC to atleast 45 TMC. Similarly Tamil Nadu farmers feel that their present allocationof 419 TMC must be increased to 480 TMC and this quantity has to be augmented by utilizing the ground water supplies in the upper regions of Tamil Nadu where the ground water does not becomes alive due to over exploitation as it happen in the case of Tanzore district where prawn culture is making the ground water saline due to intrusion of sea water by excessive pumping of ground water. Moreover Tamil Nadu can anticipate more fresh water from rivers like Godvari and Mahanadi through interlinking of rivers in the Southern peninsular grid.

Alternative methods of augmenting Cauvery flow from 740 to 880 TMC:

In order to make available more water fresh innovative attempts have made to increase the annual yield of Cauvery from the present 740 TMC to 880 TMC even from the South west monsoon of 2007. This river flow augmentation can be done immediately if only the people of Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu come to an understanding that their aspirations of higher withdrawal of water from Cauvery river will become possible if only the traditional usage of the surface water resources and ground water resources are supplemented by harnessing an exotic 3rd water resource in the sky water which is found an abundance in the atmospheric clouds because this water is more than 10 times the water quantity available in all the rivers flowing on planet earth. The intelligent American scientists have realized this scientific truth more than 60 years ago and about 50 countries are using this technology during the last 50 years for promoting the interests of farmers and the industry. The Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh Dr.Y.S.Rajasekhar Reddy visited China and held discussions with the Government and is very much convinced about its utilization for the benefit of the Indian farmers. Infact the only Chief Minister in India who is lucky to interact with the Chinese experts on this subject. Today China is the world leader in cloud seeding technology and they are employing 37,000 technicians every year and producing more than 1500 TMC additional rainfall for the benefit of the farmers and to minimize the impacts of droughts and water scarcity that hamper agriculture, industrial and economic development of the state.

The Chief Ministers of Southern states must join together and inform the Prime Minister that even in Pakistan an autocrat President is working for public welfare by ordering his Defence Department, Agriculture Department and Meteorological Department to collaborate for conducting cloud seeding operations to augment rainfall and snowfall in different states of Pakistan and the experiments are successful. The Indian Prime Minister must be requested to immediately give directions to the Minister for Defence, The Minister for Science and Technology, Minister for Agriculture, Minister for water Resources, and the Minister for Electricity to visit China, Texas and Thailand if necessary and submit a report on how to implement cloud seeding technology to resolve the water scarcity problems and thereby resolve the interstate water disputes particularly with the respect to Cauvery and Krishna which have become water starved rivers and which have the potential to trigger water wars not only between the states but also between one district and the other like in Mahaboobnagar and Kurnool in Andhra Pradesh and Kolhapur, Sangli and Pune of Maharashtra.

I am enclosing herewith a copy of my e-mail addressed to Supreme Court of India and the President of India who is interested in promoting cloud seeding to help the farmers and tereby he has taken action to send my communication to the Indian Council of Agriculture Research for further necessary action in the matter.

The second solution to resolve the Cauvery water dispute consists in transferring about 1000 TMC out of 3000TMC of Godvari flood water which runs wastefully into sea every year. Even without waiting for linking Mahanadi with Godavari the Southern Chief Ministers can jointly sit together and work out a plan and convn e the Prime Minister to take up this project so that Tamil nadu is supplied atleast 200 TMC of water from Godvari with an very inejxpensive cost and in this process the quota of Cauvery water supply to Karnataka and Kerala can be substantially increased and the public agitations for sharing of the limited Cauvery water can be resolved for restoring peace and prosperity in the Southern states.

The third alternative to resolve the Cauvery water dispute consists in create a small reservoirs on the watershed line at suitable places on the westernghats so that the water that is wastefully flowing into the Arabian sea can be diverted with small expenditure into East flowing rivers of Cauvery and its various tributaries so that the annual yield of Cauvery itself can be substantially increased and the river water problem can be resolved to the mutual benefit of the states and the central Government.

Finally I appeal to all the Chief Ministers of Southern states to consider these above proposals seriously and come to an amicable settlement for resolving these Cauvery river water management problems on ecologically sound lines. So that sustainable development of the region can be ensured for the sake of present and future generations. For further information kindly feel free to contact me by e-mail or by telephones given below:

WHY KARMAS AND REBIRTHS?

Wise people depend upon philosophy and God not only to get rid of the fear of disease, old age, death and other evils of the world but also to be free , independent, fearless, honest truthful and have faith and self confidence(will power) such traits enable people be good citizens and to do benevolent acts to serve fellow human beings and other forms of life.

In the field of science Natures truths are found by the scientists who make certain assumptions, conduct experiments and obtain results which are reproducible and thereby establish the cause and effect relationships. In philosophy similar procedures were adopted including the experiences as a result of the prescribed spiritual exercises followed in seeking the Truth.

According to Indian thought, the Upanishads (book of Divine knowledge or wisdom that leads to annihilation of transmigratory existence or samsaara) dispel the ignorance of man about his real nature and lead him to reach the God, the Absolute or Brahman. They advocate the ultimate victory of the spirit over a matter and of man over nature. However the sages debated about Brahman, Atma and the world.
BRAHMAN:
At the global level, Brahman is found is the basic cause of the universe and it is known as Atman, Sat, Akshara, Aakaasa and Bhuma. The world has come from Him, is supported by Him and gets dissolved back into Him. Like salt in the seawater, He is the inmost Self of all. He is the Lord as well as the sub-stratum of the whole creation. To make it convenient for people to meditate on Him, we call Him as Purusha (Divine Being in human form).
ATMA:
At the Individual level, when the sages enquired as to what survives when a person dies, they found atman, the Soul or the Self, as the abiding Spirit behind the body and mind of every living being. This Atma is neither borne, nor dead along with the birth and death of an individuals body and is eternal and ever free. All the organs and senses are enlivened by this Atma, made to work by him and for him. Experience shows that atman is encased and bound in our corporeal frame without much freedom and known as Jivatman (Jiva). It is said that Karma (the inexorable consequences of one’s past actions) is responsible for this state of Jivataman. For the questions on how and when Karma initiated this chain of bondage, there is no answer. But some sages say that it is due to the will of God. Liberation (Moksha) from this bondage of transmigratory existence (Samsaara) is the primary goal of ones life and it can be obtained by Jnana (knowledge), Bhakti (devotion), Dhyana(meditation, upasana) and KarmaYoga (selfless detached work or actions) as prescribed in the scriptures.
KARMAS:
Karma is a kind of cosmic balance sheet listing our personal accounts, payable ones, as bad deeds and receivable ones, as good deeds. The Higher Self handles the repayment by some method for you to balance your debt. When a person dies the Higher Self looks into your life with love and considers your karmic debts. If your good deeds are more than your bad actions you can get some of your karma cancelled. The Soul then decides what kinds of experiences will be necessary for you to complete the pay back in your subsequent birth. It means that if you harm somebody in one life, he or she gets to reciprocate in another rebirth. What you do to others in one birth gets done to you in another rebirth. It means that people who rape and torture others get abused and reprimanded by their former victims in a subsequent rebirth. Hence a person should not hurt another person and that is why all religions preach that love of fellowmen is love of God and Service to fellowmen is Service to God.
WORLD:
Even though Brahman is the permanent substratum of this world while atman is our essential nature since our struggle for liberation or enlightenment (Moksha) have to be made only in this world it is necessary to know about the creation. Since the world has emnated form Brahman it is also regarded as Brahman. Another view denies the world as an existence of its own and hence asserts that Brahman alone exists.

LIBERATION(MOKSHA):
Jivatma and Paramatma (Supreme Self, Brahman as the indwelling spirit) are two birds sitting on a tree (the body). The bird representing Jivatma eats the fruits of the tree (results of the Karma) which represent the sweet pleasures and bitter pains. But the Paramatma bird is sitting calmly without touching the fruits. When Jivatma realizes the greatness of Paramatam he becomes free from all sufferings and attains LIBERATION. Why and how the ever-free atma has become Jivatma is unknown. But some sages say that it is due to the Will of God). But the Upanishads present many spiritual exercises by which the Jivatma can again get back to the original state of atma. One should turn his mind from outside towards his heart, the seat of the atman and meditate on it and do good acts and it will result in REALISATION. From then onwards that person feels the power of Atman, the Pure Consciousness and experiences joy and bliss. Even when he looks at the world he sees the same spirit, the Atman.
While dying, the physical body of Jivanmukta (Enlightened person) and subtle body disintegrate and join the 5 elements in nature while He (Self)gets merged in Brahman. Such a liberated soul is taken by the non-human Divine Being (Amaanava Purusha) to the Brahmaloka from where nobody will return to this world.
In the case of a person who dies without REALISATION of the Atma/Brahman the person who did desire-motivated good actions or some upaasanaas get his desires fulfilled and goes to Heaven(Swarga-loka) and from there they will return to this world when the results of their good deeds get exhausted. Those who did not perform upaasanaas but did desire motivated bad actions cannot take the path to Heaven but return again and again to this world and may even be reborne as animals and worms. Hence human beings should not harm anyone but should be good and should do good to others.

About Me

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Born in 1932 at Mudinepalli, near Gudivada, Krishna Dist. Andhra Pradesh, received Bachelors degree in Civil Engg., from Viswesaraiah Engineering College, Banglore (1956) and Masters Degree in Environmental Engineering from Rice university, Houston, Texas, (USA) (1962), Ph.D (Hony). Former Head of the Department of Civil Engineering and principal of College of Engineering, Andhra university.Formerly Hony.Professor in Andhra University,Manonmanian Sundarnar University,JNT University. Fellow of the Institution of Engineers,India Recipient of the University Grants Commissions National Award "Swami Pranavananda Award on Ecology and Environmental Sciences" for the year 1991. Recipient of Sivananda Eminent Citizen Award for 2002 by Sanathana Dharma Charitable Trust, Andhra Pradesh state. Presently Working as Director, centre for Environmental Studies, GITAM University, http://www.geocities.com/prof_shivajirao/resume.html http://www.eoearth.org/contributor/Shivaji.rao