The spillway gates of the dam will be opened at 8 am to release additional water

As the water level at Bhakhra reservoir on Friday evening touched the 1669.30 feet mark, the Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB) has decided to open the spillway gates of the dam to release the additional water into the Sutlej by tomorrow morning. The last time the gates were opened was two years ago.

The board has also called the technical committee meeting of partner states on August 26 to discuss further course of action.

BBMB member (Irrigation), M K Gupta said, ?Since the water level in the Bhakra reservoir is merely a foot below the 1,670 feet mark, the board has no option but to release additional water of 15,000 cusecs by 8 am tomorrow. With the 35,000 cusecs already being released after generation of power, the Sutlej would now receive nearly 50,000 cusecs daily from the Bhakra reservoir.?

?We can not allow the water level to go beyond the 1,670 feet mark, as it can pose danger to the structure. Hence, we have decided to slowly release the additional water. Every day the water level increase by 2 feet since the inflow is 70,000 cusecs. If we continue to receive this much water, then the gates will remain open. It will be closed only if the water inflow comes down to 55,000 cuses. Around 35,000 cusecs is released daily after power generation and we have a capacity to hold another 20,000 cusecs,? said Gupta.

?We have called the technical committee meeting of partner states Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan on August 26 to decide the further course of action,? he said.

After the alert from the BBMB the state government had already issued warning to people lying in the low lying areas in Ropar, Ludhiana, Ferozepur and other areas next to the Siutluj river.

?The release of water through spillway gates should not raise concern. It is a regular feature to regulate the inflows and outflows of water. The releases from spillway have been made in the 15 years ? in 1973, 1975, 1978, 1980 to 1983, 1988, 1990 to 1993, 1995, 1998 and 2008,? said Gupta.

At present the total power generation from all BBMB projects is 47 million units per day and of this Bhakra?s contribution is 31 million units per day.

Keeping in view the good inflows and to optimise the generation, all the turbines of Bhakra dam are being run continuously from August 7. The dam has been designed to conserve maximum water during the rainy season to ensure supply of water to Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan during the subsequent lean period of the year.

The reservoir can be filed up to 1,680 feet and left the balance for flood moderation.

?On Thursday the BBMB had decided to release water at night, but today we decision to change the timing of the release. Releasing water during the night could pose a problem for the local administration and people living in the low lying areas,? said Gupta.