Water level in the Balimela dam, a joint venture of Odisha and Andhra Pradesh at Chitrakonda, on Saturday touched record highest of 1496.20 feet. Earlier, highest of 1465.20 feet was recorded on July 2, 2010 against the maximum level of 15016 feet. With good inflow of water into the reservoir, Balimela power house produced 2967 mw power in the same year.
Similarly, the highest of 1449.40 feet and lowest of 1347.40 feet of water level in the dam was recorded in 2011 with a generation of 55023 mw power. On July 1, 2012, the water level in the dam touched the highest of 1451.50 feet and lowest of 1348.55 feet.
On July 1 this year, the dam recorded highest of 1495.70 feet and lowest of 1347.40 feet and the power generation reached 6291 mw. Continued rainfall in the catchment area has also increased the hope of further improvement in the water level.
The dam was designed in 1972-73 as a main water storage facility of the Balimela Hydro-Electric Project to run the power house. Water is released from the dam whenever a demand comes from the power houses situated downstream.
As the dam is a joint venture, the total inflow of water to Balimela reservoir is shared equally between Odisha and Andhra Pradesh.
The share of Andhra Pradesh from the available water in the Balimela is released downstream into the river.