Chandigarh: Issuing advance flood warning will now be possible to prevent loss of lives and property with Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB) on Friday commissioning country's first Real Time Decision Support System (RTDSS) centre for operation of Bhakra and Pong reservoirs here.
Entailing capital outlay of about Rs 35 crore, this World Bank-aided hydrology project will allow BBMB to forecast likely rainfall and temperature in the catchment areas of Sutlej and Beas, enabling it to warn state authorities of Punjab to take measures and avert human and property loss with the release of excess water, BBMB Chairman A B Agrawal said today.
"There was always a danger of flooding in downstream areas (of Sutlej river) as we did not have any system to forecast how much water will flow in or how much rain or snow melting will be there. With the help of RTDSS, we will now be able to issue warning to state government in advance to take measures in downstream areas when (excess) water is released," Agrawal said.
Under the RTDSS system, BBMB has installed 85 data acquisition system stations comprising automatic rain gauge stations, automatic full climate stations, water level recorders in the catchment areas of Sutlej and Beas falling in Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir to provide data on real time basis.
"We will be able to give forecast for next 24 hours at present under RTDSS system. Gradually, this forecast for rainfall and temperature will also be available with us for next 7 days but it will take time," he said.
Besides allowing advance flood warning, RTDSS will also help BBMB to take decisions pertaining to scheduling of water release from Bhakra and Pong reservoirs, operation of spillway gates and running of hydropower turbines.
People living in downstream areas of Sutlej and Beas rivers in Punjab used to complain about flooding as and when BBMB releases "excess" water in the wake of "excessive" rains or heavy snow melting in catchment areas.
Bhakra and Pong dams have maximum water filling capacity of 1,680 feet and 1,390 feet respectively. Partnering states --Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan get water from Bhakra and Pong reservoirs for different purposes including irrigation.
"The equipments have been installed in most difficult
and remote terrains which are open for just 3 months in a year," the Chairman said adding that BBMB successfully completed this project in a record time of three years despite not having technical experts to do so.
"We did not have technical experts for this project. But we provided six-week training to our engineers in Denmark to successfully commission this project," said Agrawal.
In the next phase, BBMB plans to install sensors to check silt in water inflow of Sutlej and Beas rivers.
With about two third catchment area of Sutlej river being in China, BBMB will depend upon satellite images for collecting data for this area.
"Presently, there is no agreement for sharing of data and as such the external sources like satellite imageries are to be relied on," said Chairman.
The total catchment area of Sutlej river is 56,980 sq kms and about 20,000 sq kms falls in India and rest in China.
The chairman said BBMB's RTDSS project is country's first which has become operational while similar project is coming up at Krishna Bhima basin in Maharashtra.
