Minister for Narmada development & major irrigation projects Jay Narayan Vyas told reporters here on Monday that the government had directed water resources department adviser C.C. Patel to work out details about how much water should dams be allowed to store during the monsoon season.

Vyas said the adviser would also suggest ways of fixing free-board water level of large dams so that water released from dams during the monsoon could be minimised to avoid the flooding of cities. The minister said the water level of the Ukai reservoir had touched the 346.07 feet this year, as against 345.77 feet recorded in 1994, about five feet below the free-board level of the dam.

In 1994, the Ukai dam had received 8.5 lakh cusecs of water from the catchment areas, as against 10.5 lakh cusecs of water received this time. ``We took a calculated risk, maintaining the Ukai reservoir level at 346.07 feet against its total storage capacity of 345 feet. And, only 7 lakh cusecs of water had been released from the Ukai reservoir, causing minimum damage to Surat,'' Vyas claimed.

Giving details of other dams, the minister said the water in the dams in Saurashtra was 44.46 per cent of capacity and that in Kutch dams only 14.20 per cent. This water would be used for drinking and not for irrigation, he said.