DVC Achieves 70% Flood Moderation in Damodar Valley Amid Heavy Inflows
Kolkata, September 3, 2026: A major flood event witnessed in the Damodar Valley on September 2, 2026, was effectively managed through close coordination, collective planning and concerted effort of the Damodar Valley Reservoir Regulation Committee (DVRRC), which is a joint institutional body of the Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC), Irrigation Departments of Government of West Bengal (GoWB) and Government of Jharkhand (GoJH).
Since the outset of monsoon and especially in the last few weeks, the DVRRC has been regularly collecting and analyzing weather, rainfall and reservoir capacity data for scientific and effective management of water release from the Maithon and Panchet dams.
As a result of the coordinated efforts of DVRRC, the release of water from these two (02) reservoirs has been calibrated to ensure that the reservoirs have sufficient holding capacity during the periods of excessive rainfall in the upper catchment as well as in the plains, mainly the district of Bankura, Hooghly, Burdwan (Purba and Paschim) and Howrah.
So, while the present spell of continuous rainfall and low pressure generated in western parts of the state of West Bengal and Jharkhand led to combined peak inflow of 4 lakh cusecs of water during the last week of August till early morning of 3rd September, the advanced planning and calibrated release of water from the two large reservoirs effectively brought down the peak release to only 1.2 lakh cusecs of water.
In this connection, the role of Jharkhand Irrigation department is also praiseworthy as, for the first time, the release from Tenughat reservoir was also done in closed co-ordination between the 3 stakeholders of DVRRC.
Such incidents of large-scale flood moderation are very few in the history of the valley. The last such recorded incidents are – in Oct. 1963 - 81% moderation, Sept. 1978 - 79% moderation, Oct. 1963 (2nd incidence) - 73%, Oct. 1973 – 70% moderation and now during last week, again 70% flood moderation was achieved.
The achievement is a collective display of the commitment of DVC, GoWB and GoJH and DVRRC, working together towards the common objective of protecting downstream communities and minimizing the impact of floods in the Damodar Valle