Gurpreet Singh :- With the monsoon season approaching and water levels steadily increasing in the Bhakra reservoir, the Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB) has advised Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and other partner states to maximise the utilisation of their allocated water for irrigation purposes.
The recommendation was made during a meeting of the BBMB’s Technical Committee held in Chandigarh, where officials reviewed reservoir conditions, irrigation requirements and water management strategies. The board expressed concern over the rising inflow into the Bhakra Dam and stressed the need to create additional storage space before the arrival of heavy monsoon rains.
Officials said the water level in the dam has reached 1,578.07 feet, significantly higher than the corresponding period last year and moving closer to the reservoir’s maximum capacity of 1,680 feet. The increase has largely been attributed to accelerated glacier melt in Himachal Pradesh caused by unusually high temperatures, resulting in greater inflows into the Sutlej River and its tributaries.
The BBMB has urged Punjab and Haryana to make optimum use of canal water during the ongoing paddy cultivation season so that adequate space can be created in the Gobind Sagar reservoir to accommodate expected monsoon inflows. Water management experts cautioned that failure to lower reservoir levels before the onset of intense rainfall could increase the risk of flooding in downstream areas if inflows rise sharply.
The board emphasised that proactive reservoir management would be crucial in balancing irrigation needs while ensuring sufficient storage capacity for incoming monsoon waters and snowmelt from the Himalayan region.
