Water from Kabini finally reaches Mettur

“The inflow into Mettur dam, which stood at 616 cusecs at 8 am, surged to 19,087 cusecs at 4 pm on Sunday. At Biligundulu, the entry point of the Cauvery into Tamil Nadu, the inflow stood at 25,000 cusecs the same morning and increased to 30,000 cusecs in the evening,” a PWD official said.

As the water reached Biligundulu, officials from the Public Works Department (PWD) and the Central Water Commission (CWC) were constantly monitoring the inflow of water.

Following an increased inflow, the Mettur dam is also fast filling up raising the hopes of thousands of farmers in delta districts. The dam’s storage level stood at 40 ft on Sunday at 8 am as against its full storage level of 120 ft. 

About 500 cusecs of water has been released from the dam. For the seventh consecutive year, the dam has missed its customary water release date of June 12 due to poor storage level. About 16 lakh acres of land in Salem, Namakkal, Erode, Karur, Tiruchy, Thanjavur, Thiruvarur, Nagapattinam, Ariyalur, Perambalur, Pudukkottai and Cuddalore districts are dependent on water from Mettur dam.

The PWD officials expressed hope that the dam could be opened up once it crosses the 80 ft storage level. Meanwhile, due to heavy inflow into the Cauvery, a large number of tourists who thronged the spot were disappointed and had to turn back as the coracle services were suspended at Hogenakkal falls in Dharmapuri district. They were also disallowed from bathing there. The Police and Fire Rescue personnel also made announcements warning tourists not to venture into the falls.