Single Purpose Reservoirs

Single Purpose Reservoirs

The common principles of single purpose reservoir operation are given below:

a) Flood control- Operation of flood control reservoirs is primarily governed by the available flood storage capacity of damage centers to be protected, flood characteristics, ability and accuracy of flood/ storm forecast and size of the uncontrolled drainage area. A regulation plan to cover all the complicated situations may be difficult to evolve, but generally it should be possible according to one of the following principles:

1) Effective use of available flood control storage: Operation under this principle aims at reducing flood damages of the locations to be protected to the maximum extent possible, by effective use of flood event. Since the release under this plan would obviously be lower than those required for controlling the reservoir design flood, there is distinct possibility of having a portion of the flood control space occupied during the occurrence of a subsequent heavy flood. In order to reduce this element of risk, maintenance of an adequate network of flood forecasting stations both in the upstream and down stream areas would be absolutely necessary.

2)  Control of reservoir design flood: According to this principle, releases from flood control reservoirs operated on this concept are made on the same hypothesis as adopted for controlling the reservoir design flood, that is the full storage capacity would be utilized only when the flood develops into the reservoir design flood. However, as the design flood is usually an extreme event, regulation of minor and major floods, which occur more often, is less satisfactory when this method is applied.

3) Combination of principle (1) and (2): In this method, a combination of the principles (1) and

(2) is followed. The principle (1) is followed for the lower portion of the flood reserve to achieve the maximum benefits by controlling the earlier part of the flood. Thereafter releases are made as scheduled for the reservoir design flood as in principle (2). In most cases this plan will result in the best overall regulation, as it combines the good points of both the methods.

4) Flood control in emergencies: It is advisable to prepare an emergency release schedule that uses information on reservoir data immediately available to the operator. Such schedule should be available with the operator to enable him to comply with necessary precautions under extreme flood conditions.

b) Conservation: Reservoirs meant for augmentation of supplies during lean period should usually be operated to fill as early as possible during filling period, while meeting the requirements. All water in excess of the requirements of the filling period shall be impounded. No spilling of water over the spillway will normally be permitted until the FRL is reached. Should any flood occur when the reservoir is at or near the FRL, release of flood waters should be affected, so as not to exceed the discharge that would have occurred had there been no reservoir. In case the year happens to be dry, the draft for filling period should be curtailed by applying suitable factors. The depletion period should begin thereafter. However, in case the reservoir is planned with carry-over capacity, it is necessary to ensure that the regulation will provide the required carry-over capacity at the end of the depletion period.

Operation of multi purpose reservoirs: The general principles of operation of reservoirs with these multiple storage spaces are described below:

1.  Separate allocation of capacities- When separate allocations of capacity have been made for each of the conservational uses, in addition to that required for flood control, operation for each of the function shall follow the principles of respective functions. The storage available for flood control could, however be utilized for generation of secondary power to the extent possible. Allocation of specific storage space to several purposes with the conservation zone may some times be impossible or very costly to provide water for the various purposes in the quantities needed and at the time they are needed.

2. Joint use of storage space- In multi-purpose reservoir where joint use of some of the storage space or storage water has been envisaged, operation becomes complicated due to competing and conflicting demands. While flood control requires low reservoir level, conservation interests require as high a level as is attainable. Thus, the objectives of these functions are not compatible and a compromise will have to be effected in flood control operations by sacrificing the requirements of these functions. In some cases parts of the conservational storage space is utilized for flood moderation, during the earlier stages of the monsoon. This space has to be filled up for conservation purpose towards the end of monsoon progressively, as it might not be possible to fill up this space during the post-monsoon periods, when the flows are insufficient even to meet the current requirements. This will naturally involve some sacrifice of the flood control interests towards the end of the monsoon