Stoplog gate installed in place of damaged gate at Tungabhadra reservoir
All the 33 gates of the Tungabhadra Reservoir were closed by the evening to stop the spillway discharge
The pressure-bearing capacity of the temporary stoplog gate installed in place of gate number 19, which was washed away, being checked by closing the remaining 32 gates on Saturday.
| Photo Credit: SRIDHAR KAVALI
Amid heavy current, the team of experts headed by hydro-mechanical engineer N. Kannaiah Naidu on Saturday (August 17) successfully installed the temporary stoplog gate at the Tungabhadra reservoir by putting all its five elements in place of gate number 19, which was washed away late on August 10. Each element, which measures four feet high and 60 feet wide, was placed one on the other to create a temporary stoplog gate.
The engineers initially attempted to fix an element of the stoplog gate manufactured at the JSW steel plant at Toranagallu in Ballari district on Thursday. However, it went in vain. They then went for the second option — the one manufactured at Hosalli in Koppal district — and succeeded late on Friday. The pressure-withstanding capacity of the installed element was checked by reducing the spillway discharge through the gates on both sides of gate number 19.
Just as the first of the five elements was successfully installed, the team celebrated the achievement by exchanging sweets till late at night. It resumed the work on Friday and successfully installed the remaining four elements by the evening.
After the successful installation of each element, the authorities reduced the spillway discharge through the other gates to check the pressuring-bearing capacity of the element. It took around two hours to 90 minutes to install the second gate. However, the remaining gates did not take much time to get installed. When all the gates were successfully installed by the evening, all the gates were closed.
After crest gate number 19 was washed away last Saturday, the authorities raised the remaining 32 gates to increase the spillway discharge to reduce the pressure on the damaged gate. Technical experts, who rushed to the reservoir from Hyderabad, Bengaluru, and Chennai the next day, initially held that installing a new crest gate in place of the damaged one could be possible only after half of the water in the reservoir was drained. Accordingly, the spillway discharge was further increased to one lakh cusecs on Sunday and 1.4 lakh cusecs by Monday morning.
On the other hand, efforts were on to install a temporary stoplog gate to save the water in the reservoir. Engineers from JSW Steel Plant in Toranagallu and two private companies – Hindustan Engineering Works and Narayana Engineering Co – from Hosapete were engaged in the manufacturing of the elements of the proposed stoplog gate.
When the tragedy struck, the dam was full to its brim at a full reservoir level of 1,633 feet, holding a total storage capacity of 105.788 tmcft of water. The reservoir level, however, came down to 1,623.32 feet, holding 71.139 tmcft of water on Saturday morning. The storage further came down by the evening to around 70 tmcft. The reservoir lost almost 36 tmcft of water in one week.
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