Heavy rains lead to massive increase in water inflow at major dams, but situation under control

Vijay Mohan

Chandigarh, July 9

Amidst widespread rains over north-west India over the past two days, there has been a massive spike in the inflow of water at major dams in the region, but the situation remains under control.

The inflow into the reservoir at Pong Dam that lies on the Beas in Himachal Pradesh peaked at 3.5 lakh cusecs on Sunday afternoon while the inflow at Bhakra, which lies on the Sutlej in Himachal Pradesh peaked at 2.25 lakh cusecs, according to officials at the Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB).

“Prior to the rains, the average inflow into Pong was 25,00030,000 cusecs while that at Bhakra was 40,00050,000 cusecs,” a senior BBMB official said. “With the heavy rains over the past two days, which for us is a good sign, the water level at both dams has gone up by about five feet,” he added.

The water level recorded at Pong on Sunday was 1,341.5 feet, while that at Bhakra was 1,610 feet. “The reservoirs at present at filled up to about 50 percent of their total capacity, which though above normal for this time of the year, still leaves plenty of scope for additional heavy inflows,” the official said.

BBMBofficials said that due to the heavy rains in the region, about two lakh cusecs of water has passed into the Sutlej and its tributaries and rivulets downstream of the Bhakra Dam.

Consequently, outflows from the Bhakra as well as Pong dams have been reduced to cater to the additional water flowing into the natural water channels and mitigate the level of flooding in areas adjoining the river.

According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), rains during the past 24 hours have been in excess by 1,193 percent in Himachal Pradesh, 1,151 percent in Punjab and 764 percent in Haryana.

From the morning of July 8 to July 9, Himachal Pradesh received 103.40mm rain compared to the normal of 8.00 mm. Punjab received 57.50 mm while Haryana received 38.90 mm compared to the normal of 4.60 mm and 4.50 mm, respectively.

The overall rainfall in these states for the month of July so far has also been significantly surplus. IMD data reveals that from July 1 till July 9, rain have been above the long period average by 153 percent in Himachal Pradesh, 216 percent in Punjab and 77 percent in Haryana.

According to the IMD, the monsoon trough is active with its western end to the south of its normal position and eastern end to the north of its normal position. A cyclonic circulation lies over central Rajasthan in lower tropospheric levels and a western disturbance in lower and mid-tropospheric westerlies runs from north Pakistan to northeast Arabian Sea.

Under the influence of these weather systems, northwest India is expected to receive light to moderate widespread rainfall with isolated heavy to very heavy rainfall over the western Himalayan region, Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh and Delhi on July 10, a weather bulletin issued by the IMD on Sunday said.