Polavaram creates history by successfully operating spillway gates

AMARAVATI: The Polavaram project, which is yet to be completed, has created history with the lifting of 48 spillway gates to release the water downstream due to the heavy floods. The spillway works were completed and the 48 hydraulic gates were used successfully for the first time in a short time releasing the 15 lakh cusecs of water to the Godavari through the approach channel, spillway, spill channel and pilot channel for 6 km. The irrigation officials said this was the first time in the history of 100 years that heavy floods occurred in Godavari.

However, the polavaram project is designed in such a way that it could withstand the floods from the upper reaches, and arrangements were made to release water downstream through the Spillway along the 48 ​​gates and 42 radial gates installed in the spillway using 84 hydraulic cylinders, 24 power pack sets installed on the spillway to operate gates.

The Polavaram project also has radial gates along with river sluice gates at dead storage level by which the flood water approaching the spillway is first released through the river sluice gate and when there is dead storage in the reservoir, the gates are raised and released downstream to provide drinking and irrigation water to the Godavari delta.

The engineers said that the Godavari had a history of floods of 36 lakh cusecs and hence designed the Polavaram to withstand 50 lakh cusec floods.

Polavaram project has 96 hydraulic cylinders for 48 radial gates and 24 sets of power packs to operate two gates each with each power pack set. Also, five sets of staff log gates to solve the technical problems in operating radial gates. However, the spillway radial gates have been fully prepared to withstand the heavy flood coming to the Polavaram project and release it downstream. At present, more than 15 lakh cusecs of flood water was released downstream from Polavaram spillway gates.