Geo Membrane Lane tech mooted to prevent leakages in Penna Ahobilam Balancing Reservoir

Kuderu(Anantapur): To contain leakages in the Penna Ahobilam Balancing Reservoir (PABR), the Department of Water Resources Management is planning implementation of the latest technology dubbed as ' Geo Membrane Lane(GML) ' costing the government a whopping Rs.168 crores. Leaks are developed in the reservoir due to poor quality of works executed during the construction way back in 1993.

The reservoir has a capacity to store 11.1 tmc ft of water, but at any given time, it is able to store only 5 tmc ft of water. The reservoir supports two drinking water schemes -the Sri Ramireddy Drinking Water scheme and the Sathya Sai Water Scheme which cater to hundreds of villages and municipalities.

In the past grouting works were done to contain leakages to reservoir spillway in two phases at a cost of Rs.7.2 crores. On the left side of the spill way in the second phase grouting works were executed at a cost of Rs.2.8 crores. With the undertaking of the grouting works by and large leakages were contained to some extent. The reservoir is able to store only 5.3 tmc ft of water.

If the reservoir stores more quantity, the engineers fear that leakages might reoccur. Keeping the future problems and requirements in view the engineers decided that the latest technology dubbed as ' Geo Membrane Lane' method should be adopted to tackle the leakages problem permanently.

This technology had been adopted in the 'Kadamparai Reservoir' on Karnataka-Tamil Nadu border. The engineers visited the reservoir and studied the technology and were convinced of its efficacy. Under the system, the Geo Membrane lane sheet is installed to the rock dam submerged in the waters. This method costs a whopping Rs. 163 crores, according to an estimate. The issue is being studied by the government.