Rawal Dam level surges to red mark, spillways to open today

ISLAMABAD: The water level at Rawal Dam has surged to red mark and the reservoir management has decided to open spillways of the dam, ARY News reported on Monday.

Rawal Dam authorities in a statement announced opening of the spillways at 11:00 am today (Monday).

“Around 6000 cusecs of water will be discharged from the lake,” according to the administration.

“Rawal Dam reservoir has maximum capacity of 1752 feet water conservation, while present water level at the dam has been 1751.9 feet,” the dam management said.

“After opening of the spillways the water level at Soan river will rise and water could overflow from the banks of the stream,” the dam administration said.

Soan River is an important stream of the Pothohar region in North Punjab and drains much of the water of the area.

It is pertinent to mention here that monsoon season this year has rained more water over Pakistan filling three major reservoirs in the country to their maximum capacity.

The Water reservoir of Mangla Dam reached to its maximum water conservation capacity of 1242 feet, on Saturday, according to Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) sources.

Earlier, the water reservoir at Tarbela Dam had also reached its maximum capacity of 1,550 feet.

Currently, the cumulative quantum of water available at present in Mangla and Tarbela reservoirs stands at 13.336 million acre-feet (MAF) which is a record for water availability during the last 10 years.

The Hub Dam in the outskirts of Karachi also overflowed on last Thursday evening after a spell of heavy rainfall in Karachi and other parts of Sindh and Balochistan.

The dam’s water level rose close to its maximum capacity of 340 feet after almost 13 years and water had begun to flow outside it.

The dam, located at the Sindh-Balochistan border, supplies water to Karachi and Hub.

The Hub Dam, located 56 km from Karachi with a total capacity of 339 feet, is extended to 24,300 acres with a gross storage capacity of 8,57,000 acre-feet water.

It is Pakistan’s third-largest dam and an important source of water supply to Karachi.