In a fresh development, the officials of HMWS&SB have closed down at least two out of 13 gates of Himayath Sagar Lake that were opened last night to release the water into Musi River.
The historic Himayath Sagar lake carries a total of 17 gates out of which 13 were opened last night to drain out the inflows. However, after releasing a significant amount of outflow into Musi river the officials have closed two doors today morning giving a sigh of relief to citizens of catchment areas who spent the whole late-night fighting with the floodwater.
As the water level reached its crescendo in the Himayath Sagar lake on the intervening night of 13th October, the officials of HMWS&SB have finally opened up 13 out of 17 flood gates up to a height of 6 feet to released 22,638 cusecs of water in the downstream area of Musi River. However, after releasing the water the whole night the authorities shut two doors early in the morning leaving behind 11 gates remaining open to feed the Musi River.
As per the schedule, the officials opened up two gates initially at around 12.00 PM-midnight but soon they raised the height of another two gates up to a height of two feet to feed Musi River with a total of 22,638 cusecs of outflow.
The present holding of the reservoir is 1762.867 feet against the full tank level of 1763.50 feet that translates into 2.766 TMC of present storage against the total capacity of 2.968 TMC respectively.
The reservoir carries a total of 17 gates out of which 11 gates are presently opened to release a total of 22,638 cusecs of outflow into Musi River. Yesterday, the reservoir received 16,666 cusecs of inflow prompting the prudent officials to lift a few gates in order to feed the Musi River with an outflow of floodwater.
Following weeklong intermittent rains with the last three days of consecutive showers in catchment areas and subsequent inflows, the officials of Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply & Sewerage Board (HMWS&SB) were seen on their toes for the last two days consistently keeping an eye on the situation.
Ahead of lifting the flood gates in the intervening night of 12th and 13th October, the Managing Director HMWS&SB Dana Kishore along with the senior officials of Hyderabad and Rangareddy Districts has taken stock of the situation in length and put the police officials on high alert.
Due to good rains this year, the storage capacity has fared significantly better than last year. While the lake gates were opened yesterday following the present water level reached to 1762.867 feet, the official statistic shows that the storage capacity stood at 1740.80 feet during the same period last year. This means a total of 22.067 feet of the cumulative increase was registered in storage capacity this season compared to last year.
While this is the second time in a month that the storage capacity of the lake reached a level of replete, a similar situation was seen last time almost 10 years ago in the year 2010 wherein the water level swings up to the level of brimming.
Only two weeks earlier on 26th September, the Irrigation officials had decided to open the crest gates to release the water as the storage level was reached 1754.90 feet against the full tank level of 1763.500. Sensing the enormity, the authorities even issued a circular to the officials of the Revenue Department asking them to warn the people living in downstream areas of Himayat Sagar and alongside Musi river.
However, the official rescinded their decision to open the gates the next day as no further rains and inflows mark its way into the water body. However, the officials were put on alert sensing that further rains might convulse the threat again.
Meanwhile, Osman Sagar Lake, another tributary of Musi River, also receives good rains and inflows these days due to intermittent rains. As per the official record, the storage capacity of the lake has reached to 1773.777 feet as against the full tank level of 1790 feet. The lake received 833 cusecs of inflow during the last 24 hours.
