Linganmakki reservoir: Low storage hits power production

SHIVAMOGGA: The failure of the monsoon this year has impacted  hydro-electric power generation at Linganmakki reservoir, a major power generating centre in the state.The reservoir has water to generate power only for the next three months.

Due to this, the state will face a severe power crisis in the coming summer. Even three months after the rainy season started, the region has not received even average rainfall, so Linganmakki reservoir did not get the expected inflow of water. If  Sharavathy river catchment area receives good rainfall in September, the summer power crisis can be avoided.

But according to weather department sources, the rainfall in September will not suffice to fill up the reservoir. Sources in KPCL said the current water level at Linganmakki reservoir is 1787.35 feet against the maximum of 1819 feet with inflow of 4,104 cusecs and outflow of 4129 cusecs.

The reservoir has 44 percent water storage and 68.009 tmc feet water. The daily demand for power in the state is 6-7 million units, KPCL engineers said.

The sources also said that cloud-seeding was not a feasible option to increase the water level as a previous attempt had failed. Hence the state government is unlikely to take up cloud-seeding this year.