MYSURU: Calling for instrumentation of Krishnaraja Sagar (KRS) reservoir, M Selva Balan, Chief Research Officer at Central Water and Power Research Station, Pune, has said that the delay in this has pushed the dam authorities to still operate the crust gates manually.
He was in the city to deliver a lecture on advanced instrumentation techniques in water resources applications as a part of the centenary celebrations of the Institution of Engineers on Saturday.
According to him, instrumentation of the Krishnaraja Sagar reservoir across the Cauvery river in Mandya district, will enable the authorities to automatically operate the sluice gates of the dam with minimal personnel.
Adding on, he said that such a system will enable the authorities to manage the dam canals also automatically thereby improving water utilisation.He said that the instrumentation system at Almatti Dam across the Krishna river in North Karnataka is a fine example in the country in this regard and opined that the system can be installed in the KRS through the funding available under Phase-3 of the national hydrology project.
Further, responding to a query on the impact of the release of water from Koyna Dam on floods in North Karnataka, Selva Balan said that during extreme weather events, it is not possible to avoid floods and added that data from the area, including rainfall data, will give a clearer picture.
Meanwhile, he was also asked about the impact of mining in Baby Betta on KRS dam to which he replied that it is easy to assess the impact and Central Water and Power Research Stationis ready to carry out
a study.