Guwahati: The Manipur government has instructed the state water resources department to draw water from Loktak Lake and the Thoubal Dam in order to alleviate the acute water shortage in greater Imphal and its environs.
According to reports, the representatives of water resources department said that they would work tirelessly to support the state government’s initiative to address the issue of the water crisis for which they are building a canal that will be finished by March 20 and extend for about 18 km up to Malom.
The officials added that water from Loktak Lake and Thoubal Dam would soon be supplied to residents of Greater Imphal and the nearby areas.
The water from Loktak Lake would be drawn upto Malom while Thoubal Dam will be supplying water to Chingkheiching Reserve, officials said.
The authorities confirmed about the water level at Thoubal Dam that the dam has a capacity limit of 125 million cubic meter and right now it stores around 75-80 million cubic meter of water.
The dam’s water level is approximately 869 meters above MSL.
They added that it would require roughly 10 to 12 million cubic metres of water to supply the Chingkheiching Reserve with water throughout the year. But if there were water leaks in some places, this might change.
Notably, if water leakage was kept to a minimum, 20 million cubic metres of water would be adequate to supply Chingkheiching with water all year round.
The WRD personnel emphasised that there is no water deficit at Thoubal Dam and that when it rains the water level will rise. They also insisted that even in the absence of rain the dam will be able to supply water for more than three years.
They added that even though many rivers in Manipur have dried up, the Thoubal River continues to flow with the help of the Thoubal Dam.
Officials informed us that Loktak Lift Irrigation (LLI) has five canal networks: Imphal Main Canal, Imphal Low Canal, Imphal High Canal, Moirang Low Canal and Moirang High Canal. LLI has been activated to provide water to Imphal areas.