Water from Vaigai dam to be released to Sivagangai and Ramanathapuram on Dec 1

CHENNAI: Excess water from the Vaigai Dam would be released to Sivagangai and Ramanathapuram districts for consumption on Sunday, according to a Maalaimalar report.

The Vaigai Dam located near Aandipatti in Theni district is the main water resource for districts like Theni, Dindigul, Madurai, Sivaganga and Ramanathapuram.

While the capacity of the dam is 71 feet, it reached a capacity of 65 feet owing to the north east monsoon earlier this month.

Assuming that the dam would hit maximum capacity, water was released for indigenous irrigation in Ramanathapuram district.

However, as the rainfall gradually decreased, the current capacity of the dam stands at 56.56 feet following intermittent showers and also the inflow of water from Mullaperiyar dam.

While the dam receives 568 cubic feet of water per second, at present 69 cubic feet of water is being released for drinking water purposes to Madurai city.

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Meanwhile, as a special event, the TN government has ordered for water to be released from Vaigai Dam to Sivagangai, Virudhunagar and Ramanathapuram and Kirtumal watershed for drinking water usage.

Following this, the excess reserve water of 1.68 TMC from Vaigai Dam would be released from Sunday over the course of eight days at a rate of 650 cubic feet per second based on the water reserve and inflow.

The news has brought great cheer among the farming community as it would benefit the crops.

Water level in Mullaperiyar dam stood at 120.15 feet with an inflow of 320 cubic feet and a discharge of 755 cubic feet with a reserve of 2658 cubic feet. The water levels at Manjalaru is at 53.20 feet with an inflow of 54 cubic feet and a discharge of 100 cubic feet. The water levels at Sothuparai is at 122.83 feet with an inflow of 11.5 cubic feet and discharge of 30 cubic feet.

Similarly, the water levels at Shanmuga River dam is 50.40 feet and with no inflow, 15 cubic feet is being discharged for irrigation purposes.

The water reserve remains at 72.78 feet.