Water levels in Bhakra, Pong dams high despite rain deficit

Chandigarh, July 1 (IANS) Water levels in the Bhakra and Pong dams in Himachal Pradesh on Monday were found to be sufficiently high compared to last year despite deficient rainfall in the region in June, officials said.

Both the dams cater to the irrigation requirements 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 today," 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 added.

This means 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.

Official data said the maximum storage capacity is 1,702 feet for the Bhakra dam, and 1,393 feet for the Pong dam reservoir.

Officials have cited sufficient snowfall and rainfall in Himachal Pradesh during the winter as the main reasons for high water levels in both the dams.

The weather office in Shimla said that there was a deficit of 46 per cent in pre-monsoon rainfall in June in Himachal Pradesh.

"Pre-monsoon rains in all the 12 districts of the state remained deficit," the state's Met office Director Manmohan Singh told IANS.

The monsoon is likely to hit the region on July 4-5, a delay of almost 10 days, he added.

While the Bhakra dam is built on the Sutlej river, the Pong dam is on the Beas river.