Heavy rainfalls in the last week has pushed the water level in Morbe Dam up tp 56 percent, located at Khalapur in Raigad district. However, in order to overflow, the catchment area requires at least 1300 mm more rainfall.
The Morbe dam did not overflow last year, however, there was no water cut this year so far.
The catchment area of Morbe Dam in Khalapur received a total of 1933.5 mm rainfall and the present water level is 79.87 mm while the total capacity is 88 meters.
An engineer of Morbe dam informed that the total storage capacity of Morbe dam is 190.890 million cubic meters (MCM). As of July 19, the storage was 107.210 MCM which is 56.1% of its total capacity. “The maximum water level of the dam when it overflows is 88 meters and the present level is 79.87 meters till 8.30 am of July 20”, said a deputy engineer (Morbe Dam). He added that there is a need for a few good spells of rainfalls in the catchment area to reach its capacity.
In 2019, the dam had overflown on August 4. But it did not overflow in 2020 due to scanty rainfall at the beginning of the monsoon. In the last four years, the dam had overflowed in 2017, 2018 and 2019 except in 2020.
The dam is located in Khalapur in Raigad district and this year, the district has received good rainfall so far, even in Khalapur taluka. As per the data available with the district administration, the taluka has received 1633 mm rainfall till July 20 which is around 46.76 % of the total rainfall in the Taluka. This year's rainfall is around 40% more than last year in the same period.
“In order to overflow the dam, the catchment area requires around 3250 mm rainfall during the monsoon season. This year, so far, the catchment area has 1933.50 mm rainfall and it requires around 1300 mm more rainfall”, said the official.
Rainfall in this monsoon so far...
Present Morbe dam level: 79.87 meters
Total level: 88 meters
Rainfall in Morbe dam catchment area: 1993.5 mm
