Deficit rainfall: Water levels in Himachal dams low

Shimla, July 12 (IANS) The water levels in the Bhakra and Pong dams in Himachal Pradesh have dipped alarmingly low owing to the deficient monsoon in the region, an official said Saturday.

Both the dams serve the irrigation requirements of Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan.

"The water level in the Bhakra dam's Gobind Sagar reservoir and the Pong dam reservoir Friday stood at 1,613.77 feet and 1,314.06 feet respectively," an official of the Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB), which manages both the dams built on the Punjab-Himachal border, told IANS.

In corresponding period of last year, he said, the water level in Bhakra dam stood at 1,631.10 feet and in Pong dam it was 1,341.13 feet.

This means that the water level in Bhakra dam was 17.33 feet below the maximum capacity, while it was 27.07 feet less than the upper limit in 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.

The weather office in Shimla said the monsoon -- the season when both the dams fill up -- this time in the hill state was 46 percent deficient.

"Except Shimla, Solan and Bilaspur districts, the monsoon in other nine districts of the state remained deficit," state's Met Office director Manmohan Singh said.

The monsoon is likely to be active in the region from July 14 to 20, he added.

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