Here's Why This Haryana Barrage Is In Spotlight Over Delhi Flood

Haryana's Hathnikund barrage has been in the spotlight over the floods in Delhi. The release of water from the barrage is being seen as one of the reasons for the waterlogging in the national capital. The Delhi Government has approached the Centre to seek intervention and prevent the release of water from the Hathnikund barrage. The Centre, however, replied that the excess water from the barrage had to be released. 

The Hathnikund barrage had filled up after flow of water from Himachal Pradesh due to the recent heavy rainfall in the hill state.

Usually, 352 cusec water is released every hour from the Hathnikund barrage located in Haryana's Yamuna Nagar. When there is heavy rainfall in the catchment areas, the amount of water released from this barrage also goes up.

Since July 8, when the water level rose in Yamuna after the recent rains, the discharge from the barrage also spiked up.  At 4 pm on July 9, 1,11,060 cusec water was released from the barrage. Release of more than 1 lakh cusec water is considered a flood situation. The water release kept rising and on July 11, 3,59,769 cusec water was released from the barrage at around 11 AM.

While the water release came down to 52,042 cusecs at 10 AM today, it is still higher than the usual level.

What is Hathnikund Barrage?

Built on the Yamuna river, the Hathnikund barrage is located on the border of Haryana's Yamuna Nagar and Saharanpur in Uttar Pradesh. The barrage falls under the control of the Haryana government. Water from the Hathnikund barrage is released in three directions.

1. Eastern Yamuna Canal: Through this canal, water is diverted towards UP for irrigation purposes.

2. Western Yamuna Canal: The canal takes water to different parts of Haryana for irrigation purposes. A part of the released water is also diverted to treatment plants in Delhi that process and supply it as drinking water in the city.

3. Yamuna river: After leaving the required water in both canals, the water that remains is left in the main river.

The water from the Hathnikund barrage, which is located nearly 180 kilometres from the national capital, takes around two to three days to reach Delhi.