Water level comfortable in reservoirs in western Tamil Nadu

With water levels better than the previous years, the water managers are hoping to sail through this summer without facing drinking water shortage. Due to the heavy rains received during the southwest monsoon there has been good amount of storage in dams.

 The people of as many as 12 districts dependent on Mettur dam for their drinking water needs can heave a sigh of relief for this summer. According to an official from Mettur dam, “Water level in Mettur stands at 70.56 feet as against its full reservoir level of 120 feet as of 8 am on Sunday. During the same time last year, the dam was holding just 40 feet of water. Now, the dam has 13 TMC more. As the situation is better compared to previous years, it would be sufficient to fulfil the drinking water requirements for this summer.”

For the first time, after a gap of four years, the dam has reached its full reservoir level of 120 feet on July 23, 2018. Similarly, again it reached the brim on August 11 and on August 22. 

With a heavy inflow following good rains in the Cauvery catchment areas during southwest monsoon, the outflow even recorded a maximum of 1.35 lakh cusecs resulting in constant flooding in several western districts.   

“The dam last recorded its full capacity on December 2 and then started to come down gradually. About 1,000 cusecs of water are released as of now to serve for the drinking water purposes, the inflow has dropped abysmally low to less than 100 cusecs. Water released for irrigation purposes to delta districts was stopped last on28 December,” the official added.

Similarly, the water level in Bhavani Sagar Dam also remains high compared to the same corresponding period last year. The Public Works Department (PWD) has been releasing 1,050 cusecs into Bhavani River and 2,300 cusecs into Lower Bhavani Project canal from the Bhavani Sagar Reservoir every day. As on Sunday, the storage level is 86.48 feet as against its full reservoir capacity of 105 feet and realises a good inflow of 684 cusecs. During the same corresponding period last year, the dam stood at 51.98 feet and recorded a low inflow of 164 cusecs. The Siruvani Dam, which caters to the drinking requirements of Coimbatore district is also in a good capacity, but slightly lesser than the average normal level.

According to officials from Siruvani dam, “The dam now holds 26 feet of water against its full reservoir capacity of 50 feet. During the same time last year, the dam was holding 28 feet. The release for drinking water has been reduced to 80 MLD from the usual 100 MLD daily. There was no rain in the catchment areas for the past one month and there is barely any inflow into the dam.”

Further, the officials stated that, though rains were very heavy during the monsoon time, the water released was unable to be stored.

“Still, the existing water is enough for drinking water requirements till May and there used to be rains in June, when the dam level would surge again. The dam received its FRL in October last year,” the official concluded.