LAHORE: Following the monsoon season, water level in the country’s mega reservoirs of Tarbela and Mangla dropped to 65.15 feet and 56 feet, respectively, against their maximum conservation level of 1,550 and 1,242 feet.

“The water level in these reservoirs will go down further in the coming months and particularly during the canal closure period in December and January. But it will remain over the minimum operating level (dead level) of 1,380 and 1,040 feet, respectively. Therefore, hydel generation in December and January will also dip to 500 megawatts to 600MW due to lack of water release,” explained an official.

These days, the maximum hydel generation (peak sharing) has also reduced to 4,900MW that touched 7,000MW at the end of August and onward. The average hydel generation these days is around 3,800MW, he added.

According to a report, the combined live storage of Tarbela, Mangla and Chashma reservoirs was recorded on Saturday was 8.183MAF. The maximum accumulated storage capacity of these reservoirs is 13.856 MAF.

Published in Dawn, October 15th, 2017