Mettur dam unlikely to reach full level this monsoon

After clocking 1.3 lakh cusecs on August 9, a maximum during this monsoon season, the inflow into the dam began to slow down. It was 4,036 cusecs on Saturday and 4,513 cusecs on Friday, which further went down to 3,839 cusecs on Sunday 8 am.

Soon after the heavy rains in Karnataka, the discharge of water from the reservoirs there was stepped up, pushing up the storage level of the reservoir. But it failed to maintain the momentum after the sharp decline in the combined discharge from KRS and Kabini dams.

Drop in inflow shattered the hopes of farmers and water managers who were hoping that the dam would reach its full reservoir level of 120 feet this year.

“It is unlikely to get filled up any time soon as the South West monsoon season has almost come to an end. Also, with more than a month to go for the start of the North East monsoon, the dam may not see its full reservoir level anytime now,” said an official.

The water level in the dam stood at 91.7 feet and the storage is 54,616 mcft on Sunday 8 am.

Meanwhile, the outflow from the dam has been reduced by 2,000 cusecs from 18,000 cusecs on Sunday morning to 16,000 cusecs around noon.