Singur Dam Safety – Govt Orders First Phase Release of Water

Hyderabad: The state government has ordered the irrigation department to start depleting water from the Singur reservoir to enable assessment of damage to the dam’s bunds, and take up rehabilitation works.

Principal secretary, irrigation, Rahul Bojja, in a letter dated December 31, said the government had accepted the recommendations of a technical committee to deplete the water from the reservoir in a phased manner and bring the level down to 517.5 metres that will leave 8.17 tmc ft of water in the reservoir.

This depletion will be the first phase of the exercise to vacate the water from the reservoir during the 2025-26 water year, the letter said.

The irrigation department had previously said that unless water was depleted to the 510 metre level, it would not be able to take up a full assessment and begin repairs to the dam which was flagged by the National Dam Safety Authority (NDSA) earlier this year as facing ‘imminent danger’ if water was not released from the dam.

However, with Singur reservoir being one of the primary drinking water sources not just for Hyderabad city but to other districts, the government, after a review by the technical committee, decided to evacuate water in a phased manner in a bid to not impact the drinking water supply.

Once the water level goes down to 517.5 metres, and after an initial assessment, a further decision on depleting the level further may be taken, officials said.