THE HYDRO -

INFLICTED BY SEDIMENT
&
POSSIBLE REMEDIES
GENERAL
1.0 Water - The resource
■ The availability of water on earth as a
whole is practically constant at about
1400 M km3, out of which about 95% is
in oceans and and seas and is saline
and 4% is in the form of snow and ice.
Thus about 1% is fresh and unfrozen
but 99% of this also is in deep aquifers
and only 1% is available in lakes, rivers,
soil and atmosphere.
■ In India, annual precipitation including
snowfall is estimated as 4000 km3. The
precipitation which inflows in the rivers
is only about 1800 km3, and most of it
appears as flood flows during monsoon
months.
2.0 Water use
Upto the end of nineteenth century,
water needs of the mankind were met by
harnessing non-monsoon flows.
Urbanization,Industrialization, population
increase, changes in life style are the
factors responsible for increase both in
the uses and the users of water in the
twentieth century.
■ Resultantly, harnessing of monsoon
flows became a necessity. Storages
through dams were created to store
monsoon flows. Multipurpose projects
were taken up for controlling floods,
generating hydropower, providing water
for irrigation, domestic and industrial
purposes.
3.0The Sediment Constraint
Therefore, the engineers and planners of
water resources projects, responsible for
harnessing monsoon flows are
confronted with problems in operation
and maintenance of the projects due to
sediment mixed with the flows.
■ Depending on catchment characteristics,
the sediment problem is quite serious for
long term sustainability of the water
resources projects developed on
Himalayan rivers, which contribute about
2/3rd of the country’s water resources.
■ As the experience has been, sediment
problems in water resources do not have
unique solution, every problem has to be
carefully examined and project specific
solution evolved and tested on a model
before adoption.
4. Specific Problems
affecting hydro - power
4.1 Land erosion
About 80% of total annual runoff is
concentrated during 3 to 4 months of
monsoon season and mostly in a few
flood peaks. Therefore, sediment
concentration of 30000 to 40000 ppm is
not uncommon during such events. Hydro
- sector is not equipped to face such
events.
4.2 River morphology
The river patterns in various reaches of a
river are classified as straight, mean-
dering, braided and wandering. Yellow
river in China and Kosi in India are the
examples of wandering rivers. Kosi river
has moved through a total distance of 70
miles (115 km) westwards during a period
of last 200 years causing damage to life
and property.
4.3 Silting of Reservoirs
Some reservoirs silt at a very fast rate
depending on rate of incoming sediment and
the storage capacity. Some reservoirs in China
have lost 2 to 3% of storage capacity every
year. Storage reservoirs in India lose capacity at
the rate of 1 to 0.5% every year. In Himalayas,
diversion dams such as Ichari, Maneri, Pandoh
have been silted upto the spillway crest in 2 to 7
years of operation.
4.4 Degradation and Aggradation
A storage reservoir causes aggradation
upstream of the dam and degradation
on the downstream. The change in
upstream course endangers the safety
of river training works of the barrage
and the change in downstream causes
bank erosion and foundation problems
due to scour for the structures located
in the close proximity of the barrage /
dam.
4.5 Problems due to landslides
The occurrence of landslides in the hills is a
common phenomenon.

Generally, cloud bursts activate the potential

sites of landslides. Such sites are very
common in Himalayas. These landslides
sometimes block the river courses.

Some devastating events on this account are -

 Unprecedented Flood of 1.8.2000
in Sutlej

■ An unprecedented flood occurred in river Sutlej

on 1.8.2000 which left a trail of destruction in
Shimla and Kinnaur districts of Himachal
Pradesh, killing more than 150 people, washing
away 14 bridges, houses, vehicles and
machinery at the projects.
■ The swollen river damaged the 1500 MW
Nathpa Jhakri Power Project (NJPC)
under construction, the 120 MW Bhaba
Hydel Project under operation and 22.5
MW Ghanvi Hydel Project and the
Chaba Power Project in Shimla district.
 Flood in Bhagirathi in 1978

■ An unprecedented flood of about 3700

cumec passed in Bhagirathi at Tehri
discharge site with heavy sediment
concentration in 1978 because of a
landslide in upper reaches of Bhagirathi
causing a blockade of the river.
The overtopping and breach of the
blockade caused the flood wave. This
resulted in heavy loss and delay of
couple of years in completion of Maneri
Bhali Stage-I project which was under
construction at that time
 Alaknanda Tragedy 1970

■ The team of Alaknanda Enquiry

Committee inferred in their report that a
severe cloud burst on 20th July, 1970 in
Kunwarikhal hill region was the primary
cause of the Balakuchi landslide
tragedy.
■ The Ganga flowed with a high sediment
concentration in suspension to
Haridwar from where all season Upper
Ganga Canal takes off. The canal got
silted up upto Pathri Power House
which is situated at Mile-7 of the Canal.
The bed was raised by 9.8 ft (2.99m)
near head regulator to 6.0 ft (1.83 m) at
the Power House.
 Gohna Lake Flood
■ A heavy landslide in Garhwal in the valley of
Birahi Ganga took place on the 22nd
September 1893. The slip was so huge that it
created a 900 ft (275m) high dam across the
river. Distance from Gohna to Haridwar along
the river valleys is about 240 kms.
■ The dam was roughly 900 feet high,
2000 feet at top and 11,000 feet at base
along the valley, and 3,000 feet at top
and 600 feet at bottom across the
valley. Depth of water in the Lake
formed on the 13th - 14th December,
1893, was 450 feet.
■ Finally the dam gave way at 11.30 PM
on the night of the 25th August 1894. It
was estimated that about 300 Mcum
(10,000 Mcft) of water passed over the
dam during 4.5 hours which caused
destruction up to Haridwar.
5. Impact of sediment on
Hydro Power Projects

■ Hydropower projects are generally of

two types (I) storage schemes and (ii)
run-of-river types. In storage schemes
the reservoir acts as a large setting tank
and most of the sediment settles in the
reservoir and clear water without
harmful sediment enters the intake and
is carried to the power house.
Bhakra & Pong Dam are classic examples of
large storage dams on Himalayan rivers. Yet
on some other large storage dams in
Himalayas such as Salal Dam reservoir on
Chenab in Jammu & Kashmir, Tarbela dam in
Pakistan, Indravati reservoir in Orissa,
hydropower plant equipment has suffered
damages.
■ In run-of-river schemes, if operated during
monsoon, a lot of sediment with water
enters the power plant, causing hydro-
abrasion damages of varying degree. The
problem is more serious in case of hydro
plants located on rivers coming from
Himalayas.
■ Two types of approaches are adopted
to minimize the abrasion damages.
One is to provide a desanding
arrangement and the other is to make
the equipment abrasion resistant. None
has been found fully effective in
preventing abrasion damages.
6. PERFORMANCE OF
DESANDING BASINS

In all run-of-the river hydro power

projects in Himalayas, arrangements
mostly in the form of a desanding basin
have been provided to extract a specific
sediment particle size.
The performance evaluation of desanding
basins generally designed to exclude
particles of size upto 0.15 to 0.5 has shown
that these have performed the designed
function satisfactorily.
■ Inspite of the provision of these basins, in
most of the cases, the turbine runners, the
cooling system and other under water
parts of the power plants have been found
severely damaged mainly due to the
abundance of fine subangular particles of
quartz in the water passing through the
turbine.
The sediment impact on some
significant projects in Himalayas is
reported to be alarming -
6.1 Yamuna Stage-II (Chibro P.H.)

■ It is a run-of-river scheme on river Tons,

a tributary of river Yamuna, with
underground power house at Chibro
(240 MW, 4 x 60 MW, Francis vertical
axis turbines)
■ The scheme utilizes a head of 123 m

and a discharge of 175 cumec. It is

provided with a hopper type desander

(83m long), located under the river bed.

■ It is designed to exclude particles of size
upto 0.3 mm with a flushing discharge of
75 cumec.

■ The desander is operating with designed

efficiency. The effect of sediment on
under water parts is observed to be
moderate. The repair cycle of turbines is
observed to be 6.0 years
6.2 Maneri Bhali Stage-I

■ It is run-of-river scheme on river

Bhagirathi, a tributary of river Ganga. It
is designed for a generation of 90 MW
(3 x 30 MW + 10% over load) utilising a
drop of 180m with 70 cumec discharge.
■ A hopper type desanding basin is
designed to exclude particles of size
upto 0.3mm with a removal efficiency of
90%.
■ All the runners were found severely
damaged after the first monsoon season
after 2600 hours of operation. These
were repaired but the runners had to be
replaced / repaired after every 3000 to
5000 hours of operation.
■ Restrictions were imposed on operation
during monsoon when silt content
exceeds 1200 ppm. This reduced
generation by about 40%. A new profile
runner has been developed and its
performance has been found much
better. Still the problem of severe silt
damage to various components
persists. The repair cycle of runner is
less than one year.
6.3 Baira-Siul Hydro Electric Project
(Himachal Pradesh)

■ Baira-Siul project is situated in Chamba.

It utilizes a combined flow of three hilly
streams of Baira, Siul and Bhaled; a net
head of 282 m and a design discharge
of 88 cumec to generate 198 MW (3x66
MW), vertical axis Francis turbines.
■ Desanding arrangement is provided at
three locations. One in the Bhaled
feeder tunnel. Another desander has
been provided in the power tunnel taking
off from Baira reservoir to exclude
particles of size above 0.2mm.
■ The 3rd in HRT to exclude 90% of
sediment upto 0.2mm & above.
■ The project came in operation in 1980-
81 and heavy damages were observed
in the runners and guide vanes after
two years due to high concentration of
fine sediment (angular quartz content of
size 0.008 to 0.25mm is 75 to 98%).
6.4 Sanjay (Bhaba) Vidyut Pariyojna
(Himachal Pradesh)

■ It is a run-of-river project on river

Bhaba, a tributary of river Sutlej. Three,
twin jet vertical axis pelton wheel
turbines each of 40 MW capacity have
been installed. It utilizes a design
discharge of 17.5 cumec and a net
head of 825m to generate 120 MW.
■ Desanding arrangement in the form of
two basins each 50m long has been
provided to exclude particle size larger
than 0.2mm. The desander is followed
by a balancing reservoir / settling tank
which helps to exclude finer particles.
■ The project was commissioned in 1989
and it worked satisfactorily for six years
but trouble started in Nov. 1995 when
the bucket of a runner was found
broken. Inspection revealed damages
in most of the buckets of all the three
units.
■ The runners of all the units were
changed in the period from 1996 to
1999 and repaired runners are kept as
spares. Now, the buckets and nozzles
are being regularly repaired.
Petrographic analysis of sediment has
indicated that it has 76% quartz and
finer quartz particles are responsible for
severe damage.
■ Bogged down by frequent repairs, two
spare runners are under consideration
for purchase
6.5 Tanakpur Hydro Electric Project
(Uttaranchal)
■ It is a run-of-river project on river Sarda.
It utilizes 22m head to produce 120 MW
(3 x 40 MW, Kaplan turbines).
■ The desanding arrangement comprises
a sediment excluder in front of the head
regulator and a hopper type desanding
basin in the power channel.
■ The desanding basin has been
designed to exclude particles of size
0.5mm and above with 95% removal
efficiency.

■ The impact of sediment on the turbines

has not been severe because of low
head.
■ However, the cooling water system,
which originally tapped water from
penstock of each unit, was frequently
damaged because of high sediment
concentration (upto 6000 ppm)
comprising 60 to 70% of quartz
particles. Now, the cooling system has
been changed into closed circuit cooling
system and making up the loss by
pumping from a tube well.
6.6 Masyangdi Hydro Power Station
(Nepal)

■ It is a run-of-river plant with installed

capacity of 69 MW (3 x 23 MW) utilizing
a head of 95m. The turbines are
vertical axis Francis type.
■ The desander to exclude suspended
load has been provided in the form of a
settling basin of size 400 x 75 x 12m. It
is designed to exclude particles of size
upto 50 micron (0.05mm).
Still fine sediment remains in the turbine
discharge whose concentration varies
from 4000 to 8000ppm. The sediment
size distribution from turbine has shown
that 80% of particles are finer than 50
micron, which damages the turbine
runner blades and other internal parts
(guide vanes, cooling system etc.).
6.7 Thimruk Power Plant (Nepal)
■ It is a 12 MW (3x4 MW) capacity run-of-
river plant. The design discharge is 7
cumec and net head 205m. The
turbines are horizontal axis Francis
type.
■ The desanding arrangement has been
provided in the form of two parallel
basins. The basin was designed for
excluding 90% particles of size 0.2mm
or more.
■ The project was commissioned in 1994.
The operation experience has
indicated that turbine overhaul
frequency of once a year was not
sufficient to avoid irreparable damage.
Regular repair and maintenance of
turbine runner, upper and lower covers,
labyrinth seal and guide vanes has
been carried out
■ It can, therefore, be inferred that
exclusion of a particular size of
sediment through the desanding
basin is not adequate to avoid
sediment damage.
7. POSSIBLE REMEDIES
■ Based on the extensive damages
inflicted by harmful sediment to various
hydro-power projects, both storage type
& run-of-the river type, located on
Himalayan rivers, following suggestive
remedies need consideration of hydro-
power engineers & planners, particularly
for run-of-the river schemes -
■ Location of Intake structure should be
based on extensive hydraulic model
studies wherein the u/s river approach
must invariably be given equal
weightage, if not more, as that for a
Diversion Dam / Barrage
■ Operation of the power-plant with
head-pond reservoir maintained
close to MDDL condition. It helps in -
– saving the live storage
– Flushing of sediment deposited in reservoir
&
– improves efficiency of the desander due to
lower flow - velocities on account of lower
pressure / gravitational -head.
■ The design of sediment exclusion
device should account for modified
sediment content as per Nozaki’s
criterion which interalia accounts for
abrasion potential of the sediment.
■ Pre-flushing of diverted water u/s of the
approach zone of the main sediment exclusion
device. This would help in -
– Reducing concentration of inflow sediment in the
desander
– Reducing the probability of choking in hopper type
desanders
– improve efficiency of the main sediment exclusion
device.
Well designed vortex-tube systems

can be very effective for pre-

flushing provided topography

permits. For small hydro - these

tend to provide a rather easier,

efficient & economical alternative

for a conventional desander.

■ The selected turbine specific speed

should be one or two steps lower.

Although it would increase the machine

cost and also affect the efficiency yet it

would reduce the hydro-abrasion

significantly.
■ Abrasion resistant coatings may help though

such coatings tend to involve substantial cost.

Non-metallic coatings, such as Dura tough,

ceramic, epoxy and polyuthene based

plastics are being adopted selectively with

limited success stories.

■ Creation of a large storage - capacity

u/s of the cascading development along

any river. However, such a creation

must be based, if techno-economically

feasible, on the principle of sustainable

- environment.
 CONCLUSION

■ Therefore, an integrated approach of

dealing the sediment from the
catchment to the water use location of a
hydro power plant will in most cases be
more effective and economical.