Prospective Developments at CWPRS: Emerging Opportunities and Challenges
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Prospective Developments at CWPRS: Emerging Opportunities and Challenges Report Submitted to the World Bank P.Y. Julien February 2013 Prospective Developments at CWPRS i Disclosure This report has been prepared under the technical assistance programme on "Capacity Building for Integrated Water Resources Development and Management in India". The Trust Fund is funded by UK aid from the UK Government and managed by the World Bank. The views expressed do not necessarily reflect official policies from the UK Government or from the World Bank. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed herein should not be attributed to UK aid or to the World Bank or its affiliated organizations. UK aid and the World Bank do not endorse any specific firm and companies listed in the report. Prospective Developments at CWPRS ii Executive Summary The Central Water and Power Research Station was established in 1916 by the then Bombay Presidency. During the period 2007-2012, the average annual production at CWPRS included 100 technical reports submitted to project authorities. Today, under the Ministry of Water Resources of India, 250 studies are conducted at the Research Station at any given time. Sound engineering design is currently practiced and the projects handled at CWPRS have a national perspective and international potential. The development of water and power resources emerges as a key national priority as India rises among economically powerful nations. The challenges in water and power at the national scale include: Demographic expansion - The population of India has increased from 1.02 billion in 2001 to 1.21 billion people in 2012. The supply of potable water to every household is not a luxury, but a necessity. Increasing energy demand – The hydropower demand increased from 12.7 to 18.5 Million tons of oil equivalent (MTOE) from 2006-2011. This will require expanded facilities for research on water-related infrastructure. Nuclear and thermal power plants – The demand for nuclear power more than doubled from 6.04 to 14.16 MTOE during the period 2006- 2011. The appropriate design of water cooling facilities is critical to the safe operation of nuclear and thermal power plants. The Fukushima nuclear disaster is a reminder of the type of catastrophic event that must be prevented. The design of these plants at CWPRS requires qualified and experienced engineers. Aging infrastructure – In India, almost 1000 dams (out of 4291 in 1994) were built before 1971 and are more than 40 years old. Most dams need to be retrofitted to meet the present day demands. Liquefaction of dams - Earthquakes cause damages to the hydraulic infrastructures and research on soil-water foundations is necessary to prevent disasters from liquefaction and flood waves from dam breaks. Tsunami research – The Banda Aceh tsunami of December 26, 2004 has devastated the east coast of India. No physical modeling capability is currently available for tsunami research in India. Therefore, an urgent need to build a tsunami research facility exists. Granted appropriate resources, CWPRS would be the best place for conducting coastal engineering research on tsunamis. Devastating floods – Unprecedented floods have caused tremendous damage in recent decades. For example, 5,000 people died in the Maharashtra Flood of July 26, 2005 when Mumbai received 944 mm of rain in 24 hours. CWPRS is currently understaffed to meet the emerging opportunities and challenges. CWPRS used to have 1857 sanctioned position in 2001, and this number declined to 1172 in 2012. Given the increasing challenges at the national scale, this 36% decrease in manpower at CWPRS cannot be explained. Obviously, there is an urgent need to increase the number of sanctioned positions in order to meet the challenges and opportunities of the new millennium. The difficulties of the present situation are compounded by the fact that the investment in research infrastructure has also been minimal since 1998. CWPRS received $21,358,678 million USD for infrastructure support, equipment and training from the UNDP from 1970-1998. Since 1998, the lack of investment in the research infrastructure has been detrimental to the overall research operations at CWPRS. The potential for development at CWPRS is tremendous. CWPRS should keep its focus on meeting national needs. The massive national demand for water-related infrastructure should ensure continuous support and relevance for generations to come. CWPRS should continue to support experimental research while developing numerical models. The expansion of physical modeling capabilities in conjunction with computer models can lift CWPRS among the elite institutions of the world. There is an urgent need for major capital investment to meet the challenges of the 21st century. The following large facilities are essential to meet the needs for the new water-related research areas: • A new flume for tsunami research • Eco-hydraulic research facilities • Hydro-vibration research facilities • Hydro-thermal laboratory facilities Two new buildings are needed at the present time to support the research on water-related infrastructure of the new millennium: • Center for Eco-Hydraulic Research (CEHR) • Welcome Center with Administrative Services (WCAS) The needs for equipment, software and training cannot be overemphasized given that it has been 15 years since a major investment in infrastructure and equipment has been made at CWPRS. To meet the daunting challenges of designing a world-class water-related infrastructure, like thermal and nuclear power plants that are facing tsunamis, floods, and earthquakes, the engineers and scientists at CWPRS need to be equipped with the latest technology. The needs for building renovations, personnel training, equipment and software are detailed in this report. It is impossible to envision growth and development in India without water and power. With adequate support, resources and facilities, CWPRS will not only proactively meet the ever increasing demands and challenges in water and power in India, it will also become a world-class Center of Excellence. The ten most important recommendations of this report are to: Set priority on national water-related infrastructure: With excellent research staff and facilities, and adequate funding from the Ministry of Water Resources, the mandate of CWPRS should focus on meeting the national challenges. Renovate existing buildings: The renovation of twelve buildings in disrepair must be a top priority. Continuous power is also needed. Upgrade laboratories and large facilities: The ability to keep large scale laboratory facilities should eventually turn into one of the most important assets at CWPRS. This can eventually be used to gain a competitive edge over peer institutions around the world. Construct two new buildings: Two new buildings are needed to support the research needs of the new millennium: a Center for Eco- Hydraulic Research; and a Welcome Center with Administrative Services. Build new research facilities in emerging research areas: New laboratory facilities are required for research on tsunamis, eco- hydraulic research, thermal facilities and vibration technology. Focus on environmental issues: This may be the most daunting challenge facing CWPRS and India. As much as CWPRS has always aimed at public safety in their design of large infrastructure, a new emphasis applicable to all disciplines should gradually focus on environmental issues for a better quality of life. Seek autonomous status: The autonomous status would be very beneficial to CWPRS. Recruit 200 new research officers: An appropriate number of support staff should also be added to assist research officers. Hire and retain the best: CWPRS should have the authority to hire their new employees. CWPRS should also have the authority to dismiss non-performing employees from their functions. The increased responsibility of CWPRS engineers and scientists designing the water-related infrastructure for public safety has to be recognized. Increase the budget: An absolute minimum of 90 crores (~$18,000,000 USD) is required for the investment in research infrastructure, facilities, research equipment, computers and software. An additional increase to the operational budget of 20 crores needs to be added every year to support and train an increasing number of research officers and support staff. Prospective Developments at CWPRS iii Acknowledgments I would like to express my sincere thanks to CWPRS Director Dr. I.D. Gupta. His participation in the capacity building process has been truly exemplary. Simply put, this report would not have been possible without his contributions. His direct participation and involvement in most meetings, discussions and laboratory visits has been a source of inspiration. My two week visits have been most productive because of the relentless effort of his management team and I particularly thank all the Joint Directors (M.N. Singh, V.G. Bhave, V.V. Bhosekar, M.D. Kudale, T. Nagendra, S. Govindan, R.S. Ramteke, S. Dhayalan, P.K. Goel…) for their great effort in explaining the breadth of activities in their respective disciplines. The discussions and valuable input from the past directors Mrs Bendre and Dr. Tarapore were also greatly appreciated. To all, I am grateful for the opportunity to visit CWPRS and for the lively and productive meetings. I would like to sincerely thank the following individuals, whose help made this report possible: Dr. Anju Gaur of the World Bank for her repeated expression of confidence in my work and for her undeterred conviction that the outcome of this report would be significant Julienne Roux of the World Bank office in New Delhi for her constructive comments, and John Prakash of the World Bank in Washington, DC, for his help with the travel arrangements and reimbursements. The acknowledgements would not be complete without a note of thanks to my wife Dr. Helga Julien for her repeated support and encouragements to complete this report within a shortened time frame. Finally, the report of Das et al. (2012) served as an example to follow regarding formatting issues. In this report, I have attempted to express my views in the most constructive perspective.