Water level at Bhakra dam higher than last year
Bahadurjeet Singh/Rupnagar,May 27,2024
The filling season at major dams in the region commenced on May 20 , with the snow melting in the higher reaches . The water level in Bhakra Dam, Ranjit Sagar Dam and Pong reservoirs are important for irrigation and power generation requirements of the region.
The Central Water Commission is monitoring live storage status of 150 reservoirs of the country. Out of these reservoirs, 20 reservoirs are for hydro-electric projects.
As per CWC weekly report of May 24, the water level in Bhakra reservoir increased by 3% due to better inflow of water from the rivers. The present level at Bhakra Dam reservoir is 24% of full reservoir level against last year’s level of 21%. At Bhakra Dam that lies on the Sutlej in Himachal, the water level is 1569.5 feet against the last year level of 1559.5 feet .This is about 10 feet more than the water level on the corresponding day last year. The upper limit of filling of Bhakra reservoir is 1680 feet. As per daily report the Bhakra inflow has increased to 36280 cusecs while it was 18300 cusecs last year.
At Ranjit Sagar Dam which has a capacity of 600 MW, the water level is 31% of full reservoir level against last year’s level of 51%. The current storage at the Ranjit Sagar Dam reservoir in Punjab is 25 percent of total filling capacity . Last year and 10 years average is 51% of total filling capacity. The water level at Ranjit Sagar Dam that lies on the Ravi in Punjab is 1656.8 feet meters against the last year level of 1679.4 feet. The maximum permissible level of the Dam is 1731.5 feet. The water inflow on Friday was 11400 cusecs while it was 11800 cusecs on last year’s corresponding day.
The current storage at Pong Dam at 1317.8 feet is 14.7 feet lower than last year’s level of 1332.5 feet on the corresponding day. Pong Dam lies on the Beas in Himachal, being 26 per cent of full reservoir level and it is noticeably below by 10% last year’s level of 36 per cent.
Water level at Bhakra dam higher than last year. The three dams (Bhakra Dam, Ranjit Sagar Dam and Pong reservoirs) have a combined irrigation potential of 1,024 thousand hectares and an installed hydro power generation capacity of 2,375 MW