Heavy rain lashing the Western Ghats in Maharashtra is infusing fresh life in the Almatti reservoir, which witnessed dead storage level during the summer following a prolonged dry spell.
Water inflow in the reservoir had completely stopped in October last, owing to which the water-level sharply depleted in summer.
During the summer when the temperature touches 43 degrees Celsius, the dam loses 700 cusecs of water every day to evaporation.
In the last week of April, the water-level reached dead storage level after around two tmcft of water was released for the Raichur Thermal Power Station (RTPS).
Following this, the district administration gave clear instructions to the Revenue officials to disconnect all pipelines that were illegally drawing water for farming.
Though the water-level had reached dead storage level, the people of Vijayapura and some villages in Bagalkot did not face any drinking water problem as water from the dead storage level was pumped for drinking purposes.
Rain
Now, with rain lashing the Western Ghats, the gushing water flows downhill and joins various tributaries reaching the Krishna across which the dam is built. According to officials of Krishna Bhagya Jal Nigam Limited (KBJNL), on July 4, the dam received 6,901 cusecs, on July 5, 22,986 cusecs, on July 6, 38,505 cusecs, while on July 7, it received 50,239 cusecs of water.
In the last four days, the reservoir has received around 10 tmcft of water, of which four tmcft of water was received between Wednesday and Thursday.
With monsoon rain continuing to lash the catchment areas, more water is expected to reach the dam from the Western Ghats and also from the dams in Maharashtra which are expected to discharge excess water.
On Thursday, the water level in the dam reached 508.75 metres against a full height of 519.60 metres. With a full storage capacity of 123 tmcft, the dam had 24.32 tmcft of water on Thursday.
