Dear reader,

Four months ago, 44 people died in Andhra Pradesh when an arid, drought-prone part of the state was inundated by floods.

While such contrasts are becoming all too common, not just in India, but the world over, as climate change alters rainfall patterns, it wasn’t simply heavy rain that had caused the destruction in Andhra Pradesh – it was the collapse of a dam. 

In India, climate risks are amplified by the existence of hundreds of old, large dams. Built to harness water for irrigation and power generation, these dams are now turning dangerous – their reservoirs are unable to withstand extreme rain, particularly since dam authorities are still operating by old rules for water release (when they aren’t ignoring them altogether). 

For this week’s Common Ground story, Ishan Kukreti travelled to Andhra Pradesh and Kerala, two very different landscapes, to investigate the very real concerns about dam safety in India. Do read his story here. 

All our previous work is available here. We look forward to hearing from you at commonground@scroll.in.

As always, a request: if you haven’t already, please do consider making a contribution to the Scroll Ground Reporting Fund to help us pursue more such investigations.

Supriya Sharma
Executive Editor