FWO work results in reducing height of the lake barrier by 16 meters
PT Report
Gilgit, April 28: According to information shared by National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) in its daily report water level in the lake formed on Hunza River has increased to 280 ft (85.3 meters) as of April 28. The report also mentions that the free board, distance between the existing reduced height of the barrier and water level in the lake, is around 24 meters (80 ft), as recently measured by FCNA. This leads to the logical conclusion that only 54 ft (16 meters) of the lake’s barrier, initially 414 ft (126.2 meters) high, has been reduced so far.
It is pertinent to note that the initial target of height reduction set by FWO was 20 meters which was later increased to 30 meters. It is highly unlikely that FWO would be able to achieve the target height reduction in the coming days.
Failure to reduce height of the lake barrier as per target has the potential to wreck havoc in the upstream villages.
There is very interesting situation that is (could) develop.
As very rightly put the freeboad distance still left is 24 meters and lake height about 280 feet. As we know the spread (lengt) of lake had stopped near the ridge near gulmit due to uphill slope. Now the water has sort of got over the hump and lake is slowly but surely expanding towrds Gilgit. What I foresee is that the overall height in lake level may not increase taht significantly even with increased Glacier water melt, but the spread of lake (length) will increase and may be in next few weeks Gulmit may be hit by the lake.
I request expert like Dr David Petley and NGO FOCUS to please look into this.
FWO is working hard . But hey need to deploy more equipment to breach the dam . We hope that KKH opens up soon so that there is trade and commerce.We pray that there is minimum damage to life and property.
We thank FOCUS and others for helping us peoples of Gojal.
How much area is bound by the dam? In other words, if we measure the watershed, in area, from the dam up, how large is it? If this area is relatively small, then the glacier melt won’t be a major impact, as there isn’t that much melt draining into the basin. On the other hand, if the area is quite large with lots of snow pack and warm temperatures, then the lake level will rise even if the shape of the valley increases the volume of the lake as it rises.
My guess, and it’s only a guess, is that the lake will continue to rise by at least 1/2 meter per day, on average. Sure there might be some cold weather that slows the glacier melt down, but overall the increase in runoff will be more than enough to overcome the increase in valley volume. It’s just a guess.
28 Jan upto today=000000