Mysuru: Come November, water release from the historic Krishna Raja Sagar (KRS) Dam in Mandya district will go fully automated. The 93-year-old Dam, built by Nalwadi Krishnaraja Wadiyar, will become the first reservoir in Karnataka to implement a Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) system for real-time water monitoring and live data management.

A dedicated control room to house SCADA system is being constructed near South Gate of the Dam at a cost of Rs. 63 crore — Rs. 60 crore for the SCADA system and Rs. 3 crore for civil works, which are now complete. The facility, equipped with world-class technology, will be fully operational by November.

The Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) system will track both inflow and outflow of water and enable the operation of every sluice or crest gate at the press of a button. At present, the gates are operated manually with cables and pulleys — a method that is time-consuming and less accurate.

With automation, officers and Dam managers will be able to remotely monitor and control gates using devices and SCADA software, thereby minimising errors, reducing operational costs, saving time and enhancing the precision of dam management.

Officials from the Cauvery Neeravari Nigam Limited (CNNL) told Star of Mysore that the KRS Dam, built between 1911 and 1932, originally had 173 crest gates, all of which were manually operated. Many of these gates were later closed as they were no longer in use.

Currently, the Dam has 153 sluice gates at different levels. In 2003, 17 gates at the 80-ft level were replaced. The existing gates include 17 at 80 ft., 40 at 106 ft., 48 at 103 ft., and another 48 at 114 ft., taking the total to 153.

In a major modernisation drive, these gates were replaced under the Dam Rehabilitation and Improvement Project (DRIP), funded jointly by the State Government and the World Bank. The World Bank released Rs. 69 crore for the project, which was completed in July 2023.