Bengaluru: Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Friday inaugurated the International Conference on Dam Safety (ICDS), emphasising that the issue must be treated as a national security imperative amid climate change, ageing infrastructure, and emerging technological risks.
The conference, being held at the J.N. Tata Auditorium of the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), is jointly organised by the Union Jal Shakti Ministry and the state Water Resources Department, in association with the Central Water Commission (CWC), IISc Bengaluru, and the World Bank.
The three-day conference is expected to deliberate on global best practices, policy reforms and technological innovations to strengthen dam safety and resilience in India and beyond.
Addressing a gathering of global experts, policymakers and practitioners, the Chief Minister said the theme “Safe & Secure Dams” is both timely and critical, as dam safety and resilience have become central to sustainable water governance.
He cautioned that climate-driven hydrological extremes, seismic vulnerabilities, reservoir sedimentation and ageing infrastructure are creating complex, interlinked risks. “Dam safety is no longer a technical afterthought; it is a national security imperative,” he stressed.
The Chief Minister also flagged emerging concerns such as cyber security threats to digitally operated dams, vulnerabilities of critical water infrastructure to terrorism and strategic disruption, methane emissions from reservoirs, and the need for transparent and humane rehabilitation frameworks for displaced communities.
He called for a multi-pronged response rooted in science and institutional strength. Governments must move beyond mere compliance to build a strong safety culture, ensuring regular inspections, safety audits and Emergency Action Plans are treated as living instruments of risk governance, he said.
Regulatory bodies must institutionalise risk-informed decision-making by integrating data from instrumentation, remote sensing and structural health monitoring systems into real-time dashboards. Academic and research institutions should deepen multidisciplinary collaboration to address compound risks arising from climate variability and ageing infrastructure, he stated.
Reiterating Karnataka’s commitment to cooperative federalism in water governance, the Chief Minister said water does not recognise political boundaries, nor should safety standards. He described the collaboration between the Central and the state governments, the Central Water Commission, the World Bank, IISc, and international partners as a shared commitment to public safety above politics.
Declaring the conference open, he said, “The true measure of development is not how high we build, but how safely we sustain.”
He noted that India currently has 6,628 specified dams, making it the third-largest dam-owning nation in the world, while Karnataka, with 231 specified dams, ranks sixth nationally. Nearly 70 per cent of these dams are over 25 years old, highlighting the urgent need for systematic safety evaluation, modernisation and risk-informed operations.
The Chief Minister highlighted Karnataka’s legacy in irrigation development, crediting the Mysuru Maharajas, particularly Nalvadi Krishnaraja Wadiyar, for their foresight in supporting irrigation works that transformed arid regions into fertile landscapes. Successive governments, including that of Chief Minister D. Devaraj Urs, further expanded irrigation to promote equitable regional development, he added.
Karnataka currently has an installed hydropower capacity of nearly 4,800 MW, and its reservoirs hold substantial live storage, supporting irrigation and urban water supply across the state. Major dam projects in the Krishna, Cauvery and other river basins have stabilised agriculture, supported water needs and catalysed industrial and livelihood growth in several districts, CM Siddaramaiah stated.
“Only when policy, science, engineering, finance and community participation converge can we ensure that our dams remain enduring pillars of national prosperity and public trust,” he said.
(IANS)
