Water level in Tamil Nadu reservoirs shoots up to 71%

CHENNAI: The surge of nearly 28 per cent in just eight days has taken the combined storage in the reservoirs in Tamil Nadu to 71 per cent.

The combined storage of 90 reservoirs here has increased to 163.630 tmc as against the total capacity of 224.297 tmc – a rise by 27.61 per cent from 44 per cent in merely eight days thanks to widespread rains in the State, and the catchment areas of Cauvery in Karnataka and Kerala.

However, there are wide disparities between the reservoirs. While 13 of them have 80-98 per cent storage - including Sholayar in Coimbatore region, Gundar in Tenkasi and Varadhamanathi in Dindigul filled to full capacity – 8 reservoirs have zero level.

Stanley reservoir in Mettur, one of the major dams in Tamil Nadu, is brimming following heavy inflow from Karnataka since July 17. At 6 pm on Monday, the 90-year-old reservoir recorded an inflow of 1.05 lakh cusecs of water, taking the water level to 118.20 feet – little over a foot shy of full reservoir level of 120 ft.

Following this, the Water Resources Department stepped up discharge from the reservoir to 23,000 cusecs of water from 6 pm. "We gradually increased discharge from 12,000 cusecs to 16,000 cusecs at 10 am, and to 20,000 cusecs by noon," said an official.

The officials claimed that desilting 5,339 km stretch of channels and supply canals in 13 Delta districts was aiding the free flow of the water to the tail-end areas without any hindrance, which would help fill up the waterbodies fast in the delta region for irrigation in the forthcoming seasons.

The storage is expected to go up further as the southeast monsoon is likely to continue till the end of August. As on date, the State has received 55% excess rainfall. However, the officials are keeping their fingers crossed over the northeast monsoon, given its volatile nature.