Only 4 feet to Bhakra shutdown

Four feet of water stand between the Bhakra Nangal hydel unit and its shutdown. If the fall in water level, at two feet everyday, continues,...

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Four feet of water stand between the Bhakra Nangal hydel unit and its shutdown. If the fall in water level, at two feet everyday, continues, the turbines will stop turning in two days.

The Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB) called an emergency meeting today and decided to decrease the release of water from Bhakra. The water level at Bhakra was 1466.14 feet yesterday, the lowest ever, and the dam would stop functioning if it falls below 1,462 feet. Bhakra requires a minimum water head of 50 feet so that its turbines can function.

BBMB chief Rakesh Nath says the water level will not fall further as the release had been reduced from 20,600 feet yesterday to 15,000 feet. The daily inflow is around 13,000 feet. ‘‘This would be reviewed on June 20 but I am not very confident that the situation will improve,’’ Nath said.

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The water, only four feet above draw-down level, has fallen an unprecedented 111 feet compared to last year. Normally, water releases are decided for a 10-day period but the BBMB has had to convene an emergency meeting in four days to reduce the water discharge.

The BBMB says less snowfall last winter is the major cause of the crisis. ‘‘Satellite imagery from National Remote Sensing Agency, Hyderabad, points to 50 per cent less snowfall,’’ Nath said. To add to this, the snow did not melt since the ambient temperature was low.

Further, the intermittent rainfall kept the temperatures low throughout, causing less melting this year. Since half of the river inflow at the Bhakra reservoir is due to melted snow, the level fell. Further, there was much less winter rain compared to previous years.