24 sites to have sensors under hydro project

Vijay Mohan

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, November 17

Nineteen sites have been identified for setting up a system to monitor water discharge in rivers and streams of Punjab under the National Hydrology Project (NHP), besides five sites where automatic weather stations (AWS) would be installed.

It is envisaged that the NHP will improve reservoir operations by providing optimal dam filling and release schedules through timely and reliable data acquisition, storage, collation and management of water resources. This would result in releasing greater quantities of water for hydroelectric power generation, irrigation, drinking and industrial supply.

According to studies, additional hydroelectric power generation from the NHP in Punjab is expected to be around 40 MW, resulting in an annual incremental benefit of Rs11.8 crore. The additional availability of water for irrigation, drinking and industrial production is assumed to be 4.7, 0.5 and 5.1 million cubic metres, respectively, with a combined annual incremental benefit of over Rs24.2 crore.

At the national level, the expected hydroelectric power generation is 825 MW, with a yearly benefit of Rs247.6 crore, while the combined additional water availability has been assumed to be 325 million cubic metres.

The NHP was cleared for implementation by the Union Cabinet last year with an outlay of Rs3,679.76 crore. This includes Rs3,640 crore for the NHP and Rs39.76 crore for the National Water Informatics Centre. The World Bank approved funding for the project earlier this year. The NHP is being implemented in several states.

In Punjab, eight discharge monitoring sites will be set up on the Ravi, Sutlej, Beas, Ghaggar and Chakki rivers in Pathankot, Ludhiana, Ferozepur, Patiala and Gurdaspur districts and the rest would be on various choes or rivulets in Hoshiarpur and Mohali districts. The AWS would come up at Pathankot, Khanna, Mansa, Gidderbaha and Abohar. Several monitoring sites and weather stations in Punjab and Himachal Pradesh are also being set up by the Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB).

These sites would provide real-time information on hydro-meteorological parameters such as the quantum of rain or snow in the catchments of rivers, the rate of melt, speed of water flow, silt level and time and quantity of water expected to reach the reservoirs. This data is expected to help in flood control.

The NHP is a nationwide version of two successful smaller and independent projects, Hydrology Project-I and II, that covered the Krishna and Sutlej-Beas basins to provide real-time weather forecast and flood warnings.