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‘Hirakud commences non-monsoon season with less water capacity’

BHUBANESWAR: Water Initiative of Orissa (WIO), an organisation that works for achieving judicious use of water in the State, on Saturday issued an alarm that the Hirakud reservoir began the non-monsoon season with 12.9 per cent less than its full utilizable water capacity.

Due to fast-depleting water level, the hydropower generation was severely hit at Burla and Chipilima.

“Water levels of Hirakud reservoir on November 1 of 2007 and 2006 respectively were 2.1 and 2.6 ft below the full level of the reservoir (FLR). This year it is about 3.3 ft below FLR. Non-monsoon water consumptions are calculated from November to June. Hence, the status of the reservoir on the beginning of November is very crucial,” WIO coordinator Ranjan Panda said.

He said the low level water could directly impact the irrigation in command area. “There are also demands from industrial plants. It is apprehended that chaotic situation over distribution of Hirakud water could prevail this year also,” Mr. Panda said.

The Hirakud reservoir on Mahanadi is the biggest dam in the State. It is a multipurpose dam that caters to the need of irrigation and produces hydropower.

However, peasants from all over western Orissa districts staged demonstration demanding adequate water from the reservoir for irrigation purposes last year. They alleged that due to increase of industrial needs, flow of water into their paddy fields had come down over the years.

WIO further said on October 1, power generation units at Burla and Chipilima had generated 270.375 Mega Watts (MW).

“But that fell to below 150 MW level on October 20 and to 117 MW on October 27. But on the very next day a panic-stricken dam authority severely curtailed water release and only 65 MW could be generated on October 28. Power generation has further fallen below 50 MW on October 31,” it said.

“Power generation has already been hit very hard since the beginning of this decade. Burla and Chipilima units together have failed in generating even 1000 MW of power in any year of this decade,” Mr. Panda said.

“The Hirakud has dam is increasingly failing in its core priorities. It failed in mitigating floods in September. There were reports of crop loss in the command area and now we witness the sharp fall in reservoir water level and energy production. This is an ominous sign for the dam,” he pointed out.

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