Telangana to leverage IoT to monitor reservoirs

This will be a first-of-its-kind initiative to be developed anywhere in the country

Hyderabad: The Irrigation department will soon go hi-tech with the setting up of Kaleswaram Decision Support System (KDSS), an Internet of Things initiative, that will facilitate easy monitoring of water levels and inflows into all major dams and reservoirs across the State including real-time alerts on these factors. This will be a first-of-its-kind initiative to be developed anywhere in the country.

All these would be made possible with a Central Command and Control Centre being set up at Jala Soudha as part of the KDSS which would facilitate Irrigation department officials to monitor the situation in all the major reservoirs and dams and get real time information on effective utilisation of water. This will be similar to the police department’s dedicated command and control centre to monitor movements through surveillance cameras installed at every corner in the city.

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The Irrigation department has decided to leverage technology to get ground level information from reservoirs and dams. The KDSS works through sensors, and the department has already started the process of installing them in eight places. “If everything goes well, we will roll out the technology-driven initiative by April 2021 to help us deal with the situation during Kharif season,” Principal Secretary (Irrigation) Dr. Rajat Kumar said, addressing a press conference here on Friday to brief about various initiatives taken as part of the reorganisation of the department.

Once the central command and control centre is operational, officials will receive real-time alerts about the water levels and the amount of water to be released through pumps. “We will get information of water inflows and levels on hourly basis and based on it, we can take a decision on the amount of water to be released,” an official said, adding that this process would help in using electricity judiciously.

The system mainly functions on artificial intelligence, machine learning and IoT. In addition to the central command and control centre, three more regional command and control centres would also be established for proper coordination.

Since the Irrigation department has huge assets, focus will be on using technology along with operations and maintenance since the department has completed the construction of major projects in the State, he said.

Rajat Kumar said responsibilities including delegation of restricted financial powers have been entrusted to engineers concerned after completing the process of reorganisation of the department to attend to emergency works like breaches and damages to bunds, if necessary, at the water bodies.

The territorial jurisdiction has been clearly explained to officials and entrusted with the responsibility of operation and maintenance of the reservoirs and other water bodies in their jurisdiction. In all, 200 employees including senior officials attended a workshop held at Institute of Engineers on Friday. He said the department had already geo-tagged as many as 46,531 tanks and check dams in the State.

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