Bhubaneswar, Aug 22: As rains in the upper catchment areas of Mahanadi have stopped since a few days now, all the sluice gates of the Hirakud Dam were closed on Monday.
Notably, following the standard operating procedure regarding the release of water from the dam every year, on August 5 the dam authorities had released the season’s first rainwater reserves through number 7 sluice gate and 10 sluice gates were opened to release excess, over the reservoir’s water level mark of 615-foot. Consequently, later as many as 17 sluice gates were opened to release flood waters into Mahanadi as the reservoir was receiving rainwater continuously and the water level of the dam was at 614.10 feet.
The water holding capacity of the reservoir is 630-foot.
