Financial Times

As if the country doesn't have enough problems; there seems to be one more. Not that it is as obvious as the tsunami or the present increase in fighting in the north and east, but it's there.

According to Badhra Kamaladasa, Deputy Director (Dam Safety), Irrigation Department, if measures are not taken with improving the checking and repairs of dams in the country there could be a disaster that matches the casualty numbers suffered as a result of the tsunami.

Particular areas were not mentioned but cracks in dams and abuse of reservoirs have taken its toll on earth-made to 20th-century concrete dams; and there are a lot of them, where most have been ignored or used-and-abused due to people thinking that they are there to stay and have always been.

Ms. Kamaladasa made a simile about certain scientists who lost their jobs over not being able to give warnings before the tsunami hit, because by some miracle they were meant to know just because they should. “It's the same with what could happen with the lack of coordination and access to modern technology to ensure we can predict and stop a dam or dams breaching or even collapsing,” the engineer said at a public lecture in Colombo last week on “Issues of dam safety management in Sri Lanka.”

It happened in 1957-58, when 53 large and 1,500 minor dams breached their confinement, but luckily, Ms. Kamaladasa said, in those days the economy was in good health and there were a number of British engineers to help with relief and repairs.

The last serious breach was 1986, where 129 people died and 11,000 were negatively affected, at a cost in today's prices of Rs 6 billion. Can the government afford such a lapse or a similar bill today?

The engineer said there were lessons to be learned from the Katrina disaster in the US, where subsequent investigations have showed that bad maintenance was a major factor that led to the extent of the damage.

“When you look at the number of dams in the country: there are 351 large-to-medium sized dams, built from earth to concrete, not to mention at least 12,000 smaller ones, where most of the important ones were built in the 1950s to the 1970s – and time, it seems, is taking its toll. There are also around 300 dams that are centuries old and have been in need of repair since the 1850s,” she said.

To look at the problem, Ms. Kamaladasa said that she relates it to humans, as in how to reverse the aging process, while still keeping the patient active. In her slide show, there were pictures of dams with cracks, erosion, seepage, and damage by man, even though he doesn't seem to know it. And on top of this there is the damage as the aftermath of the tsunami that is yet to be fully understood.

There is, according to the engineer, also the problem of a lack of communication between those that own or run the dams, even when they are in the same water basin.

So what can be done? At the moment the department's engineers are doing their best to rectify the problems, and there are enough of them, but what is lacking is the technology to make their life easier.

These people are on call 24/7 if there is a problem, but are not properly compensated for the job they do. “The equipment is available, it just needs to be bought,” Ms. Kamaladasa said.

She also emphasised that a national dam programme should be put together so that hazard classifications can be realised and subsequent measures devised to counter them. To help regular inspections by those responsible should be mandatory. On top of this there should be an emergency management policy to cover inundated areas when such disasters happen, Ms. Kamaladasa said, adding that all those living in the proximity of the dam and those downstream should all be aware of the potential dangers and how to deal with them. “But, of course, this all needs funds,” she added.

“There is the education factor, and previously we have found out that there are no problems when there have been breaches with local help that has been forthcoming. Coordination between people who run the dams and check them could also be much better. As for our department, the equipment is out there to help us do the job and we have the manpower to make these ageing dams ‘live’ longer, but at the moment the money only covers the work we do now,” the engineer said.

But without the technology, even with their best efforts, they could still miss something.