Floods in Spiti and Kinnaur Valley

[Yogesh Sarkar]

Here is the latest update on floods in Spiti and Kinnaur valley.

Originally Posted by [url=http://www.tribuneindia.com/2006/20060808/himachal.htm#1

The Tribune[/url]]Slight fall in Pareechu level

Reckong Peo, August 7
Most parts of the tribal belt of Kinnaur and Spiti valley today got respite from the lashing rain that was continuing for the past two weeks. As a result, the water discharge in the Sutlej started receding in the afternoon on Monday.

The water level in Pareechu rivulet also slightly declined by 0.104 metres on Monday as against the rise of 8 ft on Sunday evening. Official reports available from the district administration revealed that the water level of Pareechu was 4,384.874 metres from the mean sea level on Sunday, which declined to 4,384.770 metres on Monday.

The water discharge in Spiti, the main tributary of Sutlej, at Khab, in Pooh subdivision of Kinnaur, has declined by 85 cumecs. The water discharge of Spiti due to sudden rise in Pareechu on Sunday was recorded at an all time high of 426 cumecs under any normal conditions during the past many decades. It, however, declined to 341 cumecs on Monday. It may be mentioned that Pareechu rivulet merges into Spiti, the main tributary of Sutlej near Sumdo in Kinnaur district.

Sources in the Sutlej Jal Vidhyut Nigam (SJVN) today revealed that the overall water discharge of Sutlej at Nathpa dam site rose to 1,440 cumecs early this morning possibly due to sudden rise of water level in Pareechu but later in the day the situation improved a lot. In the evening, the water discharge of Sutlej here at Nathpa declined to 1,365 cumecs, with a silt content of over 14,000 ppm.

The immediate threat of a flash flood in the Sutlej has faded away bringing cheers on the faces of the tribal people and officials of the district administration but the situation for the SJVN for running the 1500 MW Nathpa-Jhakri hydropower project is still alarming due to the large quantity of silt that has so far not come down to the permissible limit of 4,500 ppm to run this project.

The power generation in this power project thus remained closed for the 15th consecutive day on Monday causing a loss of about 150 crore in power generation.

Meanwhile, the authorities concerned of the district administration of Kinnaur were still keeping a watch on the mood of Pareechu rivulet because the water level in it has declined just slightly.

[Yogesh Sarkar]

According to the information I got, road between Grampho ? Kaza is closed at this moment.

[Yogesh Sarkar]

Panic over Sutlej level unfounded
Kuldeep Chauhan
Tribune News Service

Mandi, August 8
Despite the panic created by the media over the Pareechu threat and cloudbursts in Kinnaur for people living downstream, the water level of the Sutlej today stood at 518 metres at Kol Dam site on the river, which is still 12 metres less than the highest water level of 530 metres recorded last year.

According to today's data on flow in the Sutlej received at the 800 MW Kol Dam's river monitoring control room, the Sutlej had maintained the water level of 518 meters, about 12 metres less than what was recorded last year following the breach in the Pareechu river in the Indo-Tibet border straddling the Kinnaur district and Spiti subdivision in Lahaul-Spiti district.

Despite reports of the so-called cloudbursts in Kinnaur district, the water level of the Sutlej has been hovering around 500-512 mt for the past couple of days, revealed the inputs.

Talking to The Tribune, the spokesperson of the Kol Dam said that diversion tank of the coffer dam had been designed for water level up to 555 metres. "Work on the coffer dam, main dam, power house was going on normally", he claimed, citing today's data on the inflow, which stood at 1600 cumecs.

According to the Bhakra Beas Management Board's (BBMB) data on inflow in the Beas river received till 3 pm today, it stood at 28,125 cusecs, while outflow was 28,000 cusecs. The engineers attribute the rising inflow in the Beas to the continuing spell of rain in Kulu district.

Source: http://www.tribuneindia.com/2006/200...himachal.htm#3