Narmada water level rises, Bharuch villages put on alert

With an inflow of over 12.90 lakh cusecs of water from the Indira Sagar and Omkareshwar dams in Madhya Pradesh, the level of Sardar Sarovar increased from 135.42 m on Saturday morning to 137.36 m by 1 pm. As per the protocol, the SSNNL opened the radial gates to ensure that the dam is safely filled up to its FRL with a total of 1.42 lakh cusecs being released downstream from the gates while 9.45 lakh cusec being released from the Riverbed Powerhouse after the generation of hydropower.

Several villages in the downstream areas of Bharuch district have been put on alert due to the increased levels in the Narmada River.

According to a release from the SSNNL, the Indirasagar Dam in MP also began releasing water through 12 open gates at 10-metre height, bringing a huge cache of water into the Sardar Sarovar basin.

The Sardar Sarovar Dam witnessed an increase of 25 cm water in its water level within an hour on Saturday afternoon, it said.

The Flood Control Centre of Sardar Sarovar Dam is constantly monitoring the water level, officials said, as the catchment areas of the dam are receiving heavy rainfall. The Sardar Sarovar Dam has a live storage of 4741.20 MCM which is 82.31 per cent of the total storage of 9460 MCM. The total storage in the dam is about 90% as per the official government data.