Vadodara: The Sardar Sarovar dam on river Narmada in Kevadia of central Gujarat, the lifeline of water supply in this western state, has reached almost to the over-flow mark and was 99.56% full (ie., less than half a percent remaining) at 1 pm today with water level reaching 138.55 m just 13 cm below the highest level of 138.68.

According to the official information received from the Narmada Flood control office here, the water level was stable since last one hour from 12 am to 1 pm while it was continuously rising since 7 am in the morning when it was 138.32m. At 8 am it was 138.34 m, 9 am 138.39m, 10 am 138.45m, 11 am 138.53m while at 12 am it was 138.55m and at 1 pm also it was stable at the same level.

23 of the 30 gates of the dam were 3.1 meter open in an attempt to keep the water level stable. The total inflow was 683250 cusec while outflow was slightly less at 645549 cusec.
The authorities in-charge of maintaining the water level were reportedly trying hard to contain the over-flow till September 17 when PM Narendra Modi is to visit the dam to participate in the Namami Narmade Mahotsav of the state government to mark the filling of the dam to its full level after increase in the height.

A senior officer of the Sardar Sarovar Narmada Nigam Ltd said that the water level would be maintained by balancing the outflow and inflow. ‘Unless there was any dramatic surge in the inflow from the Madhya Pradesh side, it was highly unlikely that the dam will actually overflow before PM’s visit. With the help of gates the water level could be even be maintained close to the highest level for any long if the inflow did not see an unforeseen sudden surge,’ he said.

The water level had touched the 138 meter mark for the first time at 2 pm yesterday, 137 meter mark on September 11, 136 m on September 8, 135 m on September 2, 134 m on August 27 and 133 meters on August 20 after almost continuous rise with slight fluctuations and occasional lowering due to opening of gates.

After installation and closure of 30 gates on the dam in 2017, its maximum height increased from 121.92m to 138.68 m.

Excess water was being flown to the sea towards Bharuch on the downstream side. Due to heavy inflow the low-lying areas close to the river in the down stream have been alerted. People have also been shifted to safer places. Water from the river was also being flown to other rivers like Sabarmati, Rupen and Banas etc.

CM Vijay Rupani has said that Gujarat did not need any permission from the Narmada Command Authority for filling the dam reservoir up to the maximum level. It is trying to do so slowly and cautiously keeping in view all the technical aspects.He said that the whole Gujarat was happy about the filling of the Narmada to its brim. PM Modi on his birthday would remain present at the dam and offer prayer to Narmada water.

The gross storage of water in the reservoir that supplies drinking water to over 3 crore or more than half of the population living in 167 towns and more than 10 thousand villages of this state,was 9418.13 Million Cubic Meter (MCM) which was above 99.56% of total capacity. The live storage capacity was 5718.13 MCM ie., 99.27% at 1 pm today.

Notably, the gates were opened for the first time in the morning of August 9 this year to release water even as the water level in its reservoir touched a record all time high of that time at 131.45 m due to heavy inflow caused by heavy to very heavy rain in the catchment areas of river Narmada.

Due to the discharge of water in river from the reservoir, all the six units of the river bed hydel power production system which have been started after two years are operational today as well. It 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. All of these were currently operational .The total installed capacity of the power facilities is 1,450 MW.

During earlier two years the highest level of the dam achieved was 130.75 reached on September 25, 2017.