TORRENT MENACE CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES

Abstract

TORRENTS, THE EPHEMERAL MOUNTAIN STREAMS ORIGINATING FROM THE OUTER HIMALAYAS AND SHIWALIKS , CAUSE EXTENSIVE DAMAGE TO LIFE AND PROPERTY IN THE VALLEY REACHES AS A RESULT OF FREQUENT CHANGES IN THEIR COURSE DUE TO MEANDERING AND LATERAL MIGRATION. THE TORRENTS ARE IN FACT DOWNSTREAM MANIFESTATION OF THE UPSTREAM CAUSES. OVER THE YEARS , SEVERAL AMELIORATIVE MEASURES HAVE BEEN ADOPTED TO TACKLE THIS GIGANTIC PROBLEM FOLLOWING THE CONCEPT OF INTEGRATED WATERSHED MANAGEMENT WHICH INVOLVES WATERSHED TREATMENT IN THE UPSTREAM AREAS AS WELL AS TORRENT TRAINING WORKS THE DOWNSTREAM REACHES. ALTHOUGH THE TORRENT CONTROL PROGRAMMES WERE INITIATED ALMOST 50 YEARS AGO,SCIENTIFIC STUDIES WERE ACTUALLY UNDERTAKEN BY CSWCRTI , DEHRADUN IN THE EARLY 1960S. SEVERAL STATE ORGANISATIONS HAVE ALSO CARRIED OUT EXTENSIVE TORRENT CONTROL PROGRAMMES INVOLVING BIO- ENGINEERING MEASURES. HOWEVER THE SCATTERED AND THE PEACEMEAL INFORMATION ON THE PACKAGE OF TECHNOLOGY IS NOT READILY AVAILABLE TO THE USER AGENCIES DULY DOCUMENTED. IN ORDER TO SHARE THE VALUABLE INFORMATION AND EXPERIENCES AMONG VARIOUS AGENCIES AND IDENTIFY THE RESEARCH NEEDS FOR BETTER IMPLEMENTATION OF TORRENT CONTROL WORKS, A WORKSHOP ON " TORRENT MENACE" CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES", FIRST OF ITS KIND WAS ORGANISED DURING MAY 7-8 , 1994 AT CSWCRTI , RESEARCH CENTRE , CHANDIGARH WITH THE MAIN OBJECTIVE OF QUANTIFYING THE EXTENT OF TORRENT PROBLEM, TECHNOLOGIES BEING ADOPTED BY VARIOUS AGENCIES AND RESEARCH TOOLS AVAILABLE.