JAMSHEDPUR: The water resources department will release sufficient amounts of water into the Subarnarekha river to ensure the Moharda drinking water project beneficiaries receive uninterrupted tap water during the non-monsoon period.
The chief engineer, planning and project monitoring, water resources department, Moti Lal Pingua, said water from the Chandil reservoir will be released into the river periodically at an interval of 15 days through the non-monsoon period.
The chief engineer, in a written reply to the question raised by the Jamshedpur (East) MLA, Saryu Rai, said water will be released to flush out garbage around the intake well of the Moharda project so that clean and sufficient water is lifted for supply to households.
The independent legislator had twice taken up the matter in the state assembly during the budget session. Rai referred to the National Water Policy (NWP) of 1987 and 2002 and argued that the primary goal of building reservoirs is to provide clean water to the populace.
Pingua said the Subarnarekha Multipurpose Project-controlled Chandil dam releases 13 cumec water into Subarnarekha periodically, of which 6 cumec is used for drinking needs and industrial consumption. Only 7 cumec is released into the river for environment flow.
Noting that corresponding to the full reservoir level (FRL) of 189 metres, the current storage level in the dam is 179.1 metre, Pingua said against the corresponding FRL storage capacity of 1446.9 million cubic metre (MCM), the dam’s current storage is 725.23 MCM.
The dam’s storage level is maintained at around 183 metre during the monsoon period due to objections from farmers. The apprehension of large tracts of fields getting submerged due to overflow of water during the monsoon has driven the local farmers to urge the authorities to keep the storage level low in the rainy season.
