Shillong and parts of Meghalaya face a dark future, because the water level at the Umiam Dam in Meghalaya is at the lowest in history.

Meghalaya power minister AT Mondal spilled the beans on  Tuesday May 16.

“Water level (at Umiam) is one of the lowest in the history. We are now at 3165 feet, which is the lowest,” the minister revealed to the local press..

The condition is precarious. if the water level in the reservoir recedes further, the hydro plant may be shut down.

Mondal said: “If it goes down by another foot, we will have to shut down Umiam (power plant) also. Such is the condition.”

“There is a permissible limit of the water level up to which we can run our units, so if it goes below, naturally we will have to close down the dam,” he said.

They’re hanging on the hope that the monsoon will roll in and ease the water shortage.

Meghalaya power minister AT Mondal made this statement after visiting the Umiam dam along with experts from IIT-Guwahati on Tuesday (May 16). However, he expressed hope that the condition will improve in the coming days with the advent of monsoon in the region.

The Umiam Bridge needs attention as well. The Minister said  the Umiam bridge over the dam will come in for some  retrofitting after assessment and recommendation by experts from IIT-Guwahati.

“We visited Umiam dam. On physical verification everything seems to be ok (with the bridge). There is no problem,” said Meghalaya power minister AT Mondal.

“But still we have decided that IIT should take measures to check the exact status of the bridge using different methods of testing,” he added.

“Based on the recommendations of the experts, we will go for retrofitting of the bridge,” said the Meghalaya power minister.

PREPARED BY NEWSNET INTERN SIMON MARBANIANG FROM AVAILABLE NEWS REPORTS

  ecology, electricity, environment, Meghalaya, Northeast, UMIAM DAM, UMIAM LAKE