BHUBANESWAR: With changing circumstances and drastic variation in the water inflow and demand from the Hirakud reservoir, the state government is all set to take a fresh look at the dam’s rule curve to attune it to present-time.
The Water Resources department has constituted a seven-member technical committee headed by engineer-in-chief (project and development) to evaluate the existing rule curve and suggest necessary changes required in view of the conflicts in dam operation due to demands for water for various purposes.
“As a multi-purpose dam, the basic objective was flood control, irrigation, drinking water supply and hydropower generation. With large number of industries coming up in Sambalpur and nearby districts of Jharsuguda and Sundargarh, conflicts have emerged as demand for more water for industrial purpose is increasing,” official sources said.
The rule curves are generally derived by operation studies using historic or generated flows. Many times due to various conditions like low inflow and meeting minimum requirements for demands, it is not possible to stick to the rule with respect to storage levels.
The Hirakud dam authorities are facing a lot of difficulties in maintaining the rule curve after construction of large number of dams and barrages on the upper stream of Mahanadi by Chhattisgarh government which is not sharing realtime data on release of water.
“Taking these aspects in view, the committee will suggest measures on how to improve the rule curve mechanism in order to provide flexibility in operation with different rule curves in different circumstances,” the sources said.
Revisiting the Hirakud dam policy was a poll promise by the BJP. The last time the rule curve changed was in 1988.
In keeping with other promises in the manifesto, the government has constituted four technical committees to prepare a concept paper for formulating a comprehensive policy for flood control and management, Mahanadi rejuvenation, water conservation and improvement of inland waterways.
A nine-member committee will look into comprehensive flood control and management, a 13-member committee on Jal Sarakhyana Niti (water conservation policy) for comprehensive water management and a seven-member committee on improving inland waterways and periodic desilting and dredging of dams.
These committees have been given the flexibility to rope in subject matter specialists and academic bodies as special invitees and may take inputs from civil societies and field functionaries.
The committees have been asked to submit their report by first week of September this year.