Water level rises in Pong dam, BBMB releases excess water

With water level rising in the wake of widespread rain lashing the region, Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB) today said 30,000 cusecs of "excess" water was released from Pong dam into Beas river even as partner states today took stock of the situation.
However, no excess water (spillage) was released from Bhakra dam.
"We have released 30,000 cusecs of water from Pong dam into Beas river," a senior official of BBMB said today.
"Yesterday, 19,000 cusecs of excess water was released while 11,000 cusecs was released today," official said.
The level of water in Pong today touched the precarious level of 1,377.22 feet which is just 13 feet less than its maximum storing capacity.

The water level in Pong dam rose sharply yesterday because of heavy rain in its catchment areas.

"The inflow into Pong dam yesterday reached 3.65 lakh cusecs, forcing the BBMB authorities to release excess water from the dam," Punjab, Irrigation (Canals), Chief Engineer, Amarjit Singh Dullet said.
BBMB today even called a meeting of partner states including Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan to review the water level situation in the wake of heavy inflow of water.
Dullet further said, "if the inflow into Pong dam remains more than 60,000 cusecs, then the excess water discharge could be in the range of 30,000 cusecs to 60,000 cusecs."

Meanwhile, the water level in Bhakra reservoir today touched the level of 1,652.94 feet, 64 feet up by the level it had on the same day last year.
The current water inflow in Bhakra remained 49,942 cusecs while the outflow was 34,751 cusecs, a BBMB official said.
Bhakra and Pong dams are to be filled up to a level of 1,680 feet and 1,390 feet respectively by September this year.