Due to heavy rains seven flood gates of Rihand Dam opened after 8 years
Kanwar Inder Singh/ royalpatiala.in News/ August 30,2024
The seven flood gates of Rihand Dam, in Uttar Pradesh have been opened after 8 years due to an increase in water level up to 870 feet following heavy rains in Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.The present water level is 868.8 feet. Last time gates were opened in September 2016 when water level reached 872 feet. Rihand Dam is the second largest dam of India by volume and is located on the Rihand River, a tributary of the Son River.
Rihand Dam has 13 gates and with the opening of 7 gates water releases from these is 70,000 cusecs. The water is released through river Sone and nearby places has been alerted for floods and even Bihar state has been warned about water releases from Dam
It may be mentioned that all the power houses are generating maximum to keep the water level below danger mark. 300 MW Rihand power house units are generating up to 295 MW and delivering 68 lakh units daily.
Due to heavy rains seven flood gates of Rihand Dam opened after 8 years. The full reservoir level (FRL) for the dam is 879.8 feet and any slippage from the Dam is direct energy loss to UPPCL. As per Central Water Commission report of August 29, the current water level is 74% of maximum full reservoir level(FRL). Last year it was 26% whereas the normal level is 49% of FRL.
About Rihand Dam
Rihand Dam also known as Govind Ballabh Pant Sagar, is the second largest dam of India by volume (storage) next only to Indirasagar Dam of Madhya Pradesh. The reservoir of Rihand Dam, called Govind Ballabh Pant Sagar, is India’s largest artificial lake.Rihand Dam is a concrete gravity dam located at Pipri in Sonbhadra District in Uttar Pradesh. Its reservoir area is on the border of Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. It is located on the Rihand River, a tributary of the Son River. The catchment area of this dam extends over Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh states whereas it supplies irrigation water to Bihar located downstream of the river.
