23 crest gates opened at Alamatti reservoir

Water being discharged from the Alamatti dam in Bijapur.

With the Alamatti reservoir almost full, Karnataka Bhagya Jal Nigam Limited (KBJNL), on Sunday, opened 23 of the 26 crest gates to discharge water.

The water-level in the reservoir, with a capacity of 519.6 m (124 tmcft), stands at 518.35 m (104 tmcft). Officials have stepped up discharge to correspond with the increased inflow following heavy rain in Maharashtra.

On Sunday, KBJNL released water at the rate of 1,29,499 cusecs: 87,499 through the crest gates and 42,000 through another gate to a power generation unit.

The power generation unit has begun operations and will produce 270 MW everyday.

Keeping in mind the heavy rain lashing Maharashtra, officials say that the dam will receive even more water in the coming days.

Keeping vigil

Alamatti is the first reservoir in the State to have a high-tech monitoring system imported from Japan as part of its security measures. According to KBJNL officials, high-resolution cameras with infrared capabilities were installed at all 26 crest gates. They can capture any activity in a half-kilometre radius, and feed information back to an 8,000 GB hard disk in the control room.