Water levels of Bhakra and Pong dam remain high despite standard rainfall

CHANDIGARH: Despite the harsh water depletion across the country, the Bhakra and Pong dams of Himachal Pradesh on July 1, have recorded a sufficiently high water level. The officials pointed out that the exceptional results were observed despite of decent rainfall in the month of June. The water from the dams serve irrigation and power generation needs of Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan. “The water levels in the Bhakra dam’s Gobind Sagar reservoir and the Pong dam reservoir stood at 1,604.76 feet and 1,327.63 feet respectively, as on June 2,” an official of the Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB), which manages both the dams built on the Punjab-Himachal border, told IANS.

In the corresponding period of last year, the water level in Bhakra dam stood at 1,493.37 feet while in Pong dam it was 1,283.48 feet, the official further highlighted. This implies that the water levels in Bhakra dam was 98 feet below the maximum capacity, while it was 66 feet less than the upper limit in the Pong dam reservoir.

The high levels are attributed to adequate snowfall and rainfall received by Himachal Pradesh during the winters of 2018. Yet, the pre-monsoon rainfall have remained deficient in the region in June. The weather office has recorded a deficit of 46 per cent in the same. “Pre-monsoon rains in all the 12 districts of the state remained deficit,” Manmohan Singh, the state’s Meteorological office Director, told IANS.