Aurangabad, July 20:
The water storage level in Jayakwadi dam which is the lifeline of Marathwada reached 80 per cent on Wednesday.
A meeting of the Irrigation Committee was held at the district collector's office on Wednesday under the chairmanship of district collector Sunil Chavan. Chief Engineer Vijay Ghogre and other officers of Jayakwadi Project were present.
In the meeting, it was decided that the water would be released from the dam as per the parameters of the Maharashtra Water Regulatory Authority (MWRA).
The gates of the biggest water body in the region were lifted regularly in the past three years. This time around, the need of lifting gates has arisen in July month.
So, district collector Chavan held discussions with senior officers of the irrigation department and sought information about the MWRA parameters, the current status of the dam, and the speed of water arrival and release.
The committee will hold talks again once the dam’s water storage reaches 90 per cent. The decision of lifting the gates will be taken in that meeting.
Around 55 TMC to 60 TMC water was released during the last three years when the dam had a 100 per cent storage level. The administration has issued alerts to the villages which are on the bank of Godavari river considering the possibility of getting filled dam up to the brim.
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What are MWRA parameters?
As per the MWRA parameters, the dam should have 100 per cent water storage level on October 15. So, the decision to release water would be taken considering the arrival of water speed and quantity from upper dams in the coming days. The possible water level of the dam in August and September will also be taken into consideration to lifting the gates.
Chief Engineer of Godavari Marathwada Irrigation Development Corporation Vijay Ghogre said that the speed of water arrival in Jayakwadi from Nashik dams had reduced. The dam is receiving water at the speed of 30,000 cusecs.
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Water being released from hydroelectric plant
Water at the speed of 1,589 cusecs is being released from the hydroelectric plant of Jayakwadi since July 19 (7 pm). Water from the right canal is also being released from 11 am on Wednesday.
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Water releasing plan to be made on 90 pc storage level
District collector Chavan took the review about water releasing from Jayakwadi. He instructed the Water Conservation Department to make a plan of water release when storage of the dam reaches 90 per cent.
The current storage of the dam is 1749 million cubic meters (MCM) while a 90 per cent storage level means (1953 MCM). Chavan said that the decision about releasing water would be taken after considering the arrival of water in the dam in the next few days.
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Blueline marking in 3 tehsils
Sunil Chavan issued orders for blueline marking in villages which are on the banks of the river in Paithan, Gangapur and Vaijapur tehsils to fix a danger mark.
He informed the meeting that the fund would be made available from District Planning Committee for the blueline marking,