Hirakud to release its 1st floodwaters on June 25

Sambalpur: As the water level at the Hirakud dam reservoir is increasing due to good rainfall in the catchment area of the reservoir, the Hirakud dam authorities have taken a decision to release the first floodwaters from the dam on June 25.
The water level of Hirakud dam stood at 614. 79 ft against the full reservoir level of 630 ft at 3pm on Monday. Similarly, the inflow of water into the reservoir was 63,951 cusec and outflow from the dam was 15,263 cusec, including 12,816 cusec to Power Channel, 405 cusec to canals and 170 cusec water for industries on Monday.
On June 22 in 2019, the water level of the dam stood at 600.54 ft against the full reservoir level of 630 ft. Similarly, the water level of the dam was 602.89 ft on June 22 in 2018 and the it was 599.15 ft on the same day in 2017.
Chief engineer, Hirakud dam project, Sunil Nayak, said, the intermittent rain in the catchment areas of the Hirakud dam reservoir during the non-monsoon period increased the inflow of water into the reservoir resulting in the rise in the water level at the dam this year. And since the water level of the dam is increasing, a decision has been taken to release the first floodwaters from the dam after 10am on June 25, he said.
An official source said the dam authorities had released the first floodwaters from the dam on August 14 in 2019. Similarly, in 2018 the dam authorities had released the season’s first floodwaters on July 24 and in 2017, the dam released first floodwaters on July 23.
There are 98 gates to release the floodwaters from the Hirakud dam. Of the total, 64 are sluice gates and 34 are crest gates. Each sluice gate has the capacity to discharge 16,440 cusec of water when reservoir level is 630 feet, also termed as danger level. Similarly, each crest gate has the potential to discharge 16,238 cusec of water.