The Lal Bahadur Shastri Sagar (Almatti reservoir) has received a whopping 493 tmcft water in 98 days (till Sept 11), this rain season, owing to the bountiful rain in its catchment areas in Maharashtra and Karnataka.
The reservoir, the lifeline of north Karnataka districts, had received its first inflow of the season quite early on June 5. In the next two months, the dam logged steady inflows. In August, the daily inflow into the dam clocked 1 lakh-plus cusecs. With a rapid surge in inflow, the dam authorities let out huge volume of water by lifting crest gates. This led to a flood-like situation in downstream Almatti for the best part of August.
The reservoir is receiving good volume of water and it is likely to continue till September end, according to Krishna Bhagya Jala Nigama Limited (KBJNL).
Almatti reservoir has been reaching its full reservoir level every year since 2002. The dam, on an average, clocks inflows for 110 to 120 days every year.
Records galore in 2019
However, last year, the reservoir clocked inflows for a record 144 days. Many records tumbled in 2019. The reservoir recorded 1,095 tmcft of water, highest since 2002. On August 12, the dam received the highest single-day inflow of 6.95 lakh cusecs (60 tmcft). The same day also saw the single-day high in outflow of 5.70 lakh cusecs, the KBJNL sources said.
On Friday (Sept 11), 59,860 cusecs of water flowed into Almatti and 62,000 cusecs of water was released downstream the same day. The water level in the dam stood at 519.57 metres while the live storage was 122.48 tmcft.