Heat is on: Fast melting snow doubles water inflow into reservoirs

Intense heatwave and soaring temperatures have increased the pace of snow melting, leading to increased water inflows in the dams.

The filling season at major dams in the region commenced on May 20, and the water level in Bhakra Dam, crucial to meeting the energy and irrigation needs of the region, has reported increased inflows.

In the other two major projects, Ranjit Sagar Dam and Pong Dam, the water level is lower than last year.

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

The Central Water Commission (CWC), monitoring the live storage status of 150 reservoirs in the country, has reported 10 feet increase in the water level in Bhakra Dam.

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The CWC also monitors 20 hydroelectric projects.

As per the CWC weekly report of May 24, the water level in Bhakra reservoir increased by 3% due to a better inflow of water from the rivers. The present level at Bhakra Dam reservoir is 24% of the full reservoir level against last year’s level of 21%. At Bhakra Dam, on the Sutlej, the water level is 1,569.5 feet against last year’s level of 1,559.5 feet. This is nearly 10 feet more than the water level on the corresponding day last year. The upper limit of the Bhakra reservoir is 1,680 feet. As per the daily report, the Bhakra inflow has increased to 36,280 cusecs while it was 18,300 cusecs last year.

At Ranjit Sagar Dam, which has a capacity of 600 MW, the water level is 31% of the full reservoir level against last year’s level of 51%. The current storage at the Ranjit Sagar Dam reservoir in Punjab is 25% of the total filling capacity. The water level at Ranjit Sagar Dam, which lies on the Ravi, is 1,656.8 feet against last year’s level of 1,679.4 feet. The maximum permissible level of the Dam is 1,731.5 feet. The water inflow on Friday was 11,400 cusecs, while it was 11,800 cusecs on last year’s corresponding day.

The current storage at Pong Dam at 1,317.8 feet is 14.7 feet lower than last year’s level of 1,332.5 feet on the corresponding day. Pong Dam lies on the Beas in Himachal, being 26% of full reservoir level, and it is noticeably below by 10% last year’s level of 36 %. The water inflow was 9,214 cusecs on Friday, while it was 2,495 cusecs last year.