Water level gradually increases in Mettur dam as inflow from Karnataka goes up

CHENNAI: The water level in Mettur reservoir is gradually filling up following inflow of surplus water from Kabini and KRS reservoirs in Karnataka in the last couple of days.

The inflow of water increased significantly from 20,910 cusecs of water from 8 am on Wednesday to 21,520 cusecs at 4 pm on the same day.

The cumulative inflow of water at Biligundlu is gradually building up due to good rainfall in the catchment area of Kabini and KRS reservoirs in Karnataka.

Officials, citing the report from their counterpart in Karnataka, said that they have discharged 45,000 cusecs of surplus water from Kabini dam at 4 pm on Wednesday, while 651 cusecs of surplus water from KRS dam.

Similarly, the excess water of 5,000 cusecs from Nugu reservoir further builds up the inflow downstream of Cauvery.

"If the intense rain continues in the upstream of Kabini reservoir and catchment area of KRS reservoir, it will bring more water to Mettur, " said an official and noted that the live storage of Kabini reservoir had touched 19,000 tmc as against its full capacity of 19.52 tmc ft three days ago.

However, another official said that the cumulative outflow of water from Kabini and KRS comes around 50,000 cusecs, but the inflow observed at Biligundlu is only 20,600 cusecs.

This might be due to dry riverbed, which needs a good flow of water for a couple of days to replenish and aid full flow of water downstream.

"We need inflow of at least a lakh cusecs of water daily to reach the safe point of 90 ft water storage at Mettur reservoir soon. Until then, we will not be in a position to release water for irrigation. But the situation is promising, " he said.

He added that they were pinning hope on Bhavani and Amaravati rivers, which are the tributaries of Cauvery River, to release water in Cauvery river for Aadi Perukku festival.

It may be recalled that Karnataka government was adamant not to release one tmc of water daily to Tamil Nadu from July 12 to July 31 as per the recommendation of the Cauvery Water Regulation Committee.

After holding an all party meeting, the Karnataka government on Sunday announced that they would release 8,000 cusecs of water as against 11,500 (1 tmc ft) of water to the lower riparian state.

It resulted in a repercussion and political tension in Tamil Nadu, which has been denied its rightful share of Cauvery water for irrigation and drinking water purposes.

The TN government, in response, held an all-party meeting on Tuesday and decided to approach the Supreme Court if the situation warranted over the inter-state water dispute.