Vadodara: The water level of Sardar Sarovar Narmada dam which is the lifeline of water supply in Gujarat, is seeing rise again.

The water level in the reservoir of the dam on river Narmada situated in Kevadiya in Narmada district in central Gujarat has seen a rise of 19 cm in last four days which has also caused a corresponding rise of 27.14 Million Cubic Meter (MCM) in the live storage. This around half a percent increase in the total live storage capacity in just four days during summer period was a real good news for water-scarce Gujarat.

According to the official data provided by the Narmada flood control unit in Vadodara, the water level at 8 am today has increased to 119.27 meters from 119.08 meters at the same time on April 22 when it started rising due to increase in inflow after running of hydel power generation units at IndiraSagar dam in neighbouring Madhya Pradesh. The live storage has also gone up to 1113.73 MCM from 1088.59 MCM. The huge reservoir with gross capacity (live +dead level) of 9460 MCM including full live capacity (at new highest level or overflow mark of 138.68 m) of 5760 MCM has seen around half a peercentage of rise in live storage in four days. It was a signifant thing in the midst of summer.

Earlier the water level of the dam on which around 3 crore population of the state was dependent for water needs, had also seen an unusual increase of over 3 meters (3.37meters to be precise) in last just 21 days from March 16 to April 5. It had gone up to 119.38 meters on April 5 from 116.01 meters at the same time on March 16. But from April 6 it started receding again.

An official of the SSNNL said that there was enough water for meeting the drinking and other domestic needs of the around 167 towns and more than 10000 villages that depend on our water supply though out the summer and till the arrival of next monsoon.

Notably, the dam’s main power plant ie river bed one houses six 200 MW Francis pump-turbines to generate electricity and include a pumped-storage capability. Additionally, a power plant on the intake for the main canal ie canal bed contains five 50 MW Kaplan turbine-generators. The total installed capacity of the power facilities is 1,450 MW.

The overflow mark of the dam has been raised from 121.92 to 138.48 after the installation and closure of 30 sluice gates in 2017.

DeshGujarat