Experts raise concern over rising silt level in Bhakra dam
We are taking steps to prevent silt by planting 7 lakh saplings in the catchment of the reservoir and there are other long-term plans. DK SHARMA, chairman, Bhakra Beas Management Board
CHANDIGARH: Expressing concern over the fact that nearly onefourth (23%) of storage capacity in the Bhakra dam reservoir is filled with silt, Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB) chairman DK Sharma has said it was taking long-term steps to ‘fight the silt’. Record shows deposition of silt has increased over previous years, because of surge in development activities in the catchment area. BBMB records silt levels every alternate year.
“We are concerned about the silt in Bhakra and Pong dams and the board is making efforts to increase the lifespan of these dams,” said Sharma, during a workshop on ‘Sediment Management for Sustainability of Large Storage Reservoirs’ and run-ofriver projects.
At least 150 delegates from Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Rajasthan participated in the workshop. Punjab water resources principal secretary Sarvjit Singh and member (power) Harminder Singh were among the attendees.
“We are taking steps to fight silt by planting 7 lakh saplings in the catchment of the reservoir and there are other long-term plans,” Sharma said, adding that human population had encroached upon the natural drainage system. The dam completed 50 years in 2013.
Sharma added that the silt made the dam more vulnerable in the sense that it filled up and emptied at a much faster rate than was the norm over the past four decades.
He added, “It is in form of a plateau in the reservoir, which at the current stage is 12km from the dam wall; it is slowly moving towards the wall.”
Martin J Teal, chairman, International Commission on Large Dams (ICOLD), said, “Flushing of silt is not practically possible as it would disturb the causeway of river downstream; the huge population and development along the river makes it even more difficult.”
On dredging silt from the reservoir, Teal added it was also not possible, as it required the lowering of water level to 1,460 feet, which would disturb the cycle of filing the reservoir in the flush season and releasing it, as per requirement. A source in the BBMB said due to silt in the reservoir, the board planned to increase dead storage level of the dam from its current 1,462 feet.