Mettur dam fills up, flood alert sounded in Cauvery basin districts
It filled up last in 2022, when a maximum of 2.07 lakh cusecs of water was released from the reservoir.
Water released from 16 eye sluices of the Mettur dam, which has reached its FRL of 120 feet on Tuesday evening.
COIMBATORE: The Mettur dam reached its full reservoir level (FRL) of 120 feet on Tuesday evening.
This is the 43rd year; the dam has got filled up.
It filled up last in 2022, when a maximum of 2.07 lakh cusecs of water was released from the reservoir.
Following heavy discharge of surplus water from Kabini and KRS dams in Karnataka due to copious rain in Cauvery catchment areas, the dam’s storage level rose steadily.
As the inflow remained steady, the dam’s storage surged to 118.84 on Tuesday, 8am, 119.02 feet at 12 noon, 119.43 feet at 4pm and finally reached its FRL of 120 feet at 6pm.
The dam, which realized an inflow of 62.870 cusecs on Tuesday, 8am had slowed down to 41.772 cusecs at 12 noon and increased to 54.459 cusecs at 4pm and further to 69.000 cusecs at 6pm.
After missing its customary date of 12 June due to poor storage position, the sluices of the dam were opened on 28 July. With its continuing heavy inflow, the discharge from the reservoir was also increased from 46,000 cusecs at 6pm to 66,000 at 7pm and 81,500 cusecs at 8pm.
Of this, 60,000 cusecs has been released through Ellis saddle (16 eye sluices), while 21,500 cusecs of water has been discharged through power house and tunnel power house to generate 210 MW of power. A flood alert has been sounded in Salem, Namakkal, Erode, Karur, Ariyalur, Trichy, Thanjavur, Tiruvarur, Cuddalore, Nagapattinam and Mayiladuthurai districts.
Meanwhile, Salem District Collector R Brindha Devi released water into the dam’s canals to irrigate 45,000 acres in Salem, Erode and Namakkal districts.
Sowmiya Anbumani, president of Pasumai Thayagam, an NGO, who visited the Mettur dam urged the state government to implement schemes to save surplus water discharged from the reservoir.
“Due to lack of conservation efforts, the surplus water from Mettur drains waste into the sea. In 2022 alone, 485 TMC of water has flown into sea. By constructing check dams for every ten kilometres on Cauvery River, upto 70 TMC of water can be stored,” she said to the media.