Aurangabad, July 19:
“Water storage in Jayakwadi dam which is the lifeline of Marathwada has increased up to 78.14 per cent on Tuesday. The gates of the dam will be lifted to release water in Godavari basin when its storage level reaches 83 per cent,” said Sunil Chavan, district collector.
A meeting of the Irrigation Committee will be at the district collector's office on Wednesday morning. Sunil Chavan will chair it. Chief Engineer Vijay Ghogre along with project engineers will attend the meeting.
The discussions with the officers of the Command Area Development Authority (CADA) and Godavari Marathwada Irrigation Development Corporation (GMIDC) will also be held to lift the gates of the dam.
The gates of the dam were lifted regularly during the last three years. This year, the situation of lifting the gates has arisen in July month.
The dam which was constructed in 1976 has nearly 105 TMC water storage capacity. Many repair works on the dam which is a 46-years-old water reservoir were not carried out yet. The gates were lifted on the highest number of times in 2019. The water body was filled to its full capacity. Water from 55 to 60 TMC was released into Godavari river from the dam during the last three years.
All the records of generating electricity on the hydroelectric plant were broken in the year 2019-20. Since the dam received water more than double to its capacity, water was released regularly from it. This time around, there is also a possibility of the dam filling to its full capacity.
The villages which are on the banks of Godavari river were alerted as water is being released from a hydroelectric project of the dam. There will be more alerts when the gates of the dam are lifted in the next two days.
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20 pc storage increased in 4 days
The dam had 58 per cent storage on July 15 while it reached up to 79 per cent on Tuesday evening. There is an increase of 20 per cent in the storage during the last four days. The live storage of water in the dam is 1696.473 Million Cubic meters (MCM) while its total capacity is 2170 MCM.