Chandigarh: The water level in the Pong Dam on the Beas river has gone up "sharply" in the last few days due to incessant rainfall in the catchment areas of the reservoir, the Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB) said today.

Chandigarh: The water level in the Pong Dam on the Beas river has gone up "sharply" in the last few days due to incessant rainfall in the catchment areas of the reservoir, the Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB) said today.

The water level in the dam has risen by over 20 feet in the past 10 days. The water level at the reservoir today was at 1,348.55 feet which was higher by 26.5 feet compared to that in the corresponding day last year, a senior official said. The water inflow in the dam was recorded at 97,000 cusec while the outflow was 9,000 cusec. "The water level in the Pong dam has gone up sharply in the past few days.

The way the water inflow is rising, we may have to open spill gates for the release of water after 10 to 15 days. An alert will be issued to Punjab in this regard," the official said. However, the official said, the spill gates would be opened only with the consent of the partnering states and the situation was being monitored daily. Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan are the partnering states which meet their requirement for different purposes, including irrigation, from Bhakra and Pong dams.

If "excess" water is released, the districts of Punjab which need to be alerted are Hoshiarpur, Gurdaspur, Amritsar, Tarn Taran and Ferozepur, the official said. In Bhakra Dam, which is on the Sutlej river, the water level stood at 1,627.66 feet which is up by 32 feet as compared to what it was on the corresponding day last year, official said, adding the water inflow was 69,000 cusec and outflow was 24,500 cusec. Bhakra and Pong dams were to be filled up to the level of 1,680 feet and 1,390 feet respectively by September. PTI