In another three days or so, the Bhakra dam may cross the second level of “concern” — 1650 feet — set up by the Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB).
With water steadily registering an average increase of 0.7 feet a day, the BBMB authorities may find itself releasing the “excess” water from the Bhakra dam, as it has already touched the level of 1647.87 feet on Tuesday.
As a result, the villages lining the river embankments in Punjab may be affected. Already, the BBMB has issued a “warning” to the Punjab Government to get rid of the encroachments in the rivers.
As of now, the BBMB has decided to hold its decision to release the water from the Bhakra till it reaches the level of 1650 feet. Initially, considering the high inflows in the Bhakra’s reservoir, the BBMB had set 1645 feet as the level to release the water to maintain the water level in the reservoir.
The decision was taken on Tuesday in the meeting of BBMB officials and representatives of the partner States of Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan to review the situation on water release.
“By this time, there is not an urgent need to release the excess water from the Bhakra. We have set a new level to release the water…if it reaches 1650 feet before August 31, water may be released. We are expecting that it would be achieved in another couple of days to come,” a senior BBMB official, requesting anonymity, told The Pioneer.
Earlier, the BBMB chairman AB Agarwal had announced to release the water from Bhakra when it would reach 1645 feet — a mark set up by the BBMB over a fortnight ago to keep the water level under check. At the same time, he had assured that the release would be made “in a regulated manner”, that would not cause flooding of any area.
On July 10, Bhakra reservoir had registered the highest level in past 40 years during the month of July, at 1629.87 feet — 84 feet above the level on the corresponding day during previous year. At that time, Bhakra was registering an average increase of 1.5 feet everyday.
“Now, the situation in both Pong and Bhakra dams is normal owing to less water inflows which have come down over the past few days due to lesser rainfall in the catchment areas,” added the BBMB official. The water level in Bhakra dam reservoir was recorded at 1,647.87 feet on Tuesday, against the level of 1,569.9 feet on the same day in the previous year — 77.97 feet higher.
In the past week, the water level of Bhakra dam reservoir has witnessed an increase of 4.59 feet, from 1643.28 feet on Wednesday last week to 1647.87 feet on Tuesday.
At the same time, the water level of Pong has witnessed an increase of seven feet in the past one week — with an average raise of one foot a day. The water level of Pong dam reservoir was recorded at 1,362.70 feet on Friday — 66.19 feet higher than the previous year’s level of 1296.51 feet on the corresponding day.
“There is nothing to worry at all as of now. Both Bhakra and Pong dams have enough space to accommodate more water. It was just a precautionary measure that we have now set 1650 feet as a level to release water considering that these months never witnessed such a high levels,” said the BBMB official. While Bhakra dam can be filled up to the level of 1,680 feet, Pong has the optimum level of 1,390 feet.
“The dams are filled up to this level by September. But, in the wake of high levels in July only, with the entire monsoon season ahead, it was apprehended that these levels be fulfilled much earlier. Thus, we decided to spill excess water in case it crossed the set targets,” added the official.
BBMB has been attributing high water levels to the heavy snow melting, and rainfall. The snow melt, it stated, has been 50 per cent more than the actual this season, and is maximum in the past 23 years. In addition, the early monsoons, they claimed, has resulted in an increase of 27 per cent in water inflows.