Water crosses danger mark in Umiam Reservoir, power corp happy

The water level at Umiam Reservoir, the oldest hydel power generation unit in the state, crossed the danger level today but the Meghalaya Electricity Corporation Ltd heaved a sigh of relief.
The water level has not reached the maximum level at least for the past six years due to shortage of rainfall, but raining was good since July causing the water level to cross the 3215 feet mark, an MeECL official said.
The highest level at Umiam, mostly fed by rivers originating from East Khasi Hills, was 3,207 feet last year.
"It will be necessary to release the water of Umiam Dam in case of heavy rainfall as the water has crossed the 3215 mark by 0.64 feet at 4 PM today, MeECL Director (Generation) E Lyngdoh told PTI.

Once the level crosses 3,220 feet, excess water from the dam will have to be released besides the normal discharge for power generation.
At present, the two power producing units - Umiam and Leshka Hydel Projects - are producing about 200 MW of power.

The dam had earlier this year hit local headlines for its very poor power generation causing the state to undergo long hours of power cut for months.
The water has to be released for safety of the dam but it would be done in a phased manner to prevent inundation of of areas in the downstream, Lyngdoh said.

The Meteorology department has issued a warning that "heavy to very heavy rain could occur at a few places in Meghalaya in the next 24 hours and isolated places during the subsequent 48 hours.