As filling season for dams commences, level in key reservoirs below normal

Vijay Mohan

Chandigarh, May 17

As the filling season at major dams in region commences, the water level in crucial reservoirs that are important for irrigation and power generation, is below normal.

The current storage at the sole reservoir in Punjab is 27 per cent below normal for this time of the year, while the combined storage in the three reservoirs in Himachal Pradesh is six percent below normal.

The filling season picks up with in mid-May when snow melt in the higher reaches gathers steam and continues till September end when the monsoon retreats from the region.

The water level at Thein Dam that lies on the Ravi in Punjab is 505.41 meters against the maximum permissible level of 527.91 meters, according to data released by the Central Water Commission on May 16.

This translates to the current storage being 38 percent of its total capacity as compared to 53 percent last year and the past 10-year average of 52 per cent

At Bhakra Dam that lies on the Sutlej in Himachal, the water level is 476.10 meters against the upper limit of 512.06 meters, making the storage 22 per cent as compared to the 10-year average of 25 per cent.

With the current storage at Pong Dam, that lies on the Beas in Himachal, being 27 per cent, it is a notch below the 10-year average of 28 per cent, but noticeably below last year’s level of 36 per cent.

These three dams have a combined irrigation potential of 1,024 thousand hectares and an installed hydel power generation capacity of 2,375 MW.

While the major portion of inflow into Bhakra is from snow melt, with a large chunk of its catchment falling in Tibet, Pong and Thein are primarily rain fed.

While rains in north west India have been below normal so far, many areas in the western Himalayan region experienced heavy snowfall, which continued in some parts even in early May. Already, there is a prediction of above normal monsoon this year.