Bhakra Nangal

Yamuna river water quality improves, thanks to floodwater: Experts

Bhakra dam was the first hydropower project of independent India. Though it brought electricity and water to vast areas, the people displaced in the Bilaspur area of Himachal Pradesh remain dissatisfied. Many of them were not adequately compensated, and began living and farming in the adjoining forests. They were allowed to stay put--unofficially--by the administration.

The study estimates the average contribution of snow and glacier melt runoff in the annual flow of Satluj river at Bhakra dam. This study is restricted to the Indian part of Satluj basin. A water balance approach was used to determine the average snow and glacier contribution to the annual flows.

The study assesses sedimentation rate, water spread area and volume of the Bhakra reservoir in Satluj basin using remote sensing data of IRS-1B satellite and LISS-II sensor data of the years 1988-89 and 1996-97. The original elevation-area capacity curves and the reservoir levels on the eight dates of pass of the satellite were obtained from the Bhakra Beas Management Board, Nangal.

Using the trapezoidal formula, the capacity in between the maximum (513.904 m) and minimum (450.436 m) observed levels was assessed for the year 1996-97. The loss of capacity till 1988-89 was 491.315 mcum and till 1996-97 was 807.354 mcum. These could be attributed to the sediment deposition in the zone of study of reservoir.

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