Reservoir Operation 

• The flow in the river changes seasonally and from year to year, due to temporal and spatial variation in precipitation. Thus, the water available abundantly during monsoon season becomes scarce during the non-monsoon season, when it is most needed.

• The traditional method followed commonly for meeting the needs of water during the scarce period is construction of storage reservoir on the river course. The excess water  during the monsoon season is stored in such reservoirs for eventual use in lean period. Construction of storages will also help in control of flood, as well as generation of electricity power.

• To meet the objective set forth in planning a reservoir or a group of reservoirs and to achieve maximum benefits out of the storage created, it is imperative to evolve guidelines for operation of reservoirs. Without proper regulation schedules, the reservoir may not meet the full objective for which it was planned and may also pose danger to the structure itself. 

• Control of flood is better achieved if the reservoir level is kept low in the early stages of the monsoon season. However, at a later stage, if the anticipated inflows do not result the reservoir may not get filled up to FRL in the early stages of monsoon, to avoid the risk of reservoir remaining unfilled at later stage, there may be problem of accommodating high floods occurring at later stage. In some cases while planning reservoirs, social and other considerations occasionally result in adoption of a plan that may not be economically the best.