Gujarat: 23 gates opened as Sardar Sarovar dam 91% full

AHMEDABAD: Opening 23 gates of the Sardar Sarovar dam, the state government began releasing about 5 lakh cusecs of water from the reservoir on Tuesday, as the dam filled to 91% of its capacity.
The Sabarmati will now get a fresh inflow of water. About 25,688 cusecs of water was released from the Dharoi dam on Tuesday, 21,600 cusecs from the Lokawada weir, 23,743 cusecs from Sant Sarovar, and 16,455 cusecs from the Vasna barrage.
People living along the banks downstream of the Narmada and in low-lying localities of Bharuch city have been put on alert following the decision to release 5 lakh cusecs of water in the downstream areas of the dam and into the main Narmada canal.
A Sardar Sarovar Narmada Nigam Limited (SSNNL) release said that the water level in the reservoir at 3pm on Tuesday stood at 135.78 metres.
The level in the reservoir had reached 136.04 metres at noon on Monday, August 22, after which SSNNL began regulating the level in the reservoir by releasing additional water from the dam.
As of Tuesday afternoon, the gross storage of the Sardar Sarovar dam stood at 8,599.30 million cubic metres (MCM). Over the past 34 days, since water began to be released from the dam, electricity worth Rs 161 crore has been generated. Electricity generation at the dam site began when the water level reached 119 metres.
Government officials said that the other 206 dams, barring the Narmada dam, have total storage of 65.14%, which is 4,084.6 MCM more than the storage last year. The state as on Tuesday morning had 8,366 MCM more storage as compared to last year. The storage within one week has increased in North Gujarat and South Gujarat.
North Gujarat on August 16 had storage of 844.2 MCM which increased to 1,438.6 MCM on Tuesday.
In Central Gujarat, the increase was 340.5 MCM. The water level in the dams in Saurashtra increased by 148.3 MCM followed by 94.4 MCM in South Gujarat and 13.7 MCM in Kutch.
Of the 206 dams, 92 have over 90% storage and 12 have storage between 80% and 90%. Further, 19 dams have storage between 70% and 80%.