Following inflow into the Almatti reservoir, the outflow has also started for the first time this year and the dam has been receiving a huge quantity of water everyday.
Water was being discharged from Monday to the power generation unit located on the right side of the dam to help generate electricity, which had been stopped owing to inadequate water in the dam.
According to officials, power production was stopped last April itself. Power generation starts only during monsoon when the dam turns full and the excess water is used to discharge to the units.
The unit can generate 290 MW of power if a huge quantum of water is discharged continuously. To achieve this target, 45,000 cusecs of water must be released everyday.
Since only 12,000 cusecs of water is being discharged, all units are not generating the full strength of power.
Meanwhile, the inflow is rapidly increasing with the officials expecting it to reach around one lakh cusecs till Wednesday evening following reports of heavy rainfall in the Western Ghats, which is the primary source of water to the dam.
Till Tuesday evening, nearly 80,000 cusecs of water came into Almatti dam through rivulets and streams of the tributaries of Krishna river.
Of the total 123.08 tmcft storage capacity, the dam recorded 45.5 tmcft on Tuesday.
Besides Almatti dam, even the dams in Maharashtra are said to be receiving huge water everyday owing the torrential rains. These dams have not filled to the brim but if they continue to receive more water, then the excess water would be discharged which again would reach the reservoirs of Karnataka.
