Water in Himachal’s Pong dam to rise again

SHIMLA - The water level at Himachal Pradesh’s Pong dam would Thursday rise again marginally due to discharge of excess water from another dam located upstream but there is no threat of flood due to it, an official said.

The authorities said there was no need for worry because if the excess water is further discharged from the Pong dam, it would not create flood-like conditions downstream, mostly areas located in Punjab.

“The inflow this (Thursday) morning was normal (14,500 cusecs) but it will increase up to 25,000 cusecs later in the day due to excess water discharged from the Pandoh diversion dam Wednesday night,” K.C. Rana of the Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB) told IANS over telephone.

He said it would take 10-12 hours for the water released from the Pandoh dam, located 112 km upstream, to reach the reservoir.

The Pandoh diversion dam is located on the Beas river in Mandi district. It diverts excess monsoon water towards the Pong dam. Otherwise, it diverts water towards the Satluj river which feeds the Gobind Sagar reservoir of the Bhakra dam.

The water level at the Pong dam stood at 1,393.05 feet Thursday morning against Wednesday’s 1,393.09 ft. The dam can store water up to 1,395 ft.

For the first time in 15 years, the spillways were opened Sep 14 for three days as a precautionary measure as the water level touched 1,394.25 ft level. At that time, additional 15,000 cusecs were released.

“Still the dam has capacity to withhold additional water. If the rain continues and more water is discharged from Pandoh, the spill gates would have to be reopened,” he added.

The Pong dam, located along the Punjab border, about 250 km from here, is daily discharging 18,000 cusecs through normal operation of turbines.

The discharged water fulfils the irrigation requirements of Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan.

The BBMB has said the areas located downstream of the dam can normally accommodate discharge up to 50,000 cusecs.

The Met Office in Shimla said some areas in the state are likely to witness heavy rainfall Thursday.

One of the largest man-made wetlands in northern India, the Pong dam reservoir is spread over an area of 41 sq. km with a maximum width of 19 km. It came into existence after the construction of a dam on the Beas river in 1975.