Siruvani water: Officials blame Kerala for Kovai crisis

COIMBATORE: Water shortage issue normally comes to haunt residents of Coimbatore when water level in the Siruvani Dam goes down drastically. This year, the storage level in the dam is comfortable. Yet, water drawn from the dam has been reduced drastically resulting in erratic water supply to the city.

The reason for reduced water withdrawal, cited by officials of the Tamil Nadu Water Supply and Drainage Board (TWAD Board) is Kerala’s refusal to open the fourth valve, which is the bottom most water intake point in the dam.

Currently, only around 51 MLD of water has been drawn from the reservoir for drinking water requirements. This, despite the water level in the dam hovering around 20 feet on Tuesday as against its full reservoir level of 49.50 feet.

Water to a maximum of up to 101.4 MLD would be drawn, which is also the fixed maximum quantum of water to be drawn from the dam on a daily basis, when the water level remains at such a comfortable range.

The existing water in the reservoir is adequate to meet out the demand till June, after which the South West Monsoon would set in and help increase the storage position. There were moderate summer showers in the catchment areas over the last few days and water level rose narrowly in the reservoir.

“We have insisted multiple times to the Irrigation Department in Kerala to open the bottom most valve. But, it did not evoke any positive response. Only talks by top authorities between Tamil Nadu and Kerala governments may help in finding a solution to the issue,” said an official of TWAD Board.

Another long pending demand is that water level in the dam has to be restored to its full reservoir level of 49.50 feet as Kerala has restrained water level to 45 feet in the dam following massive floods in the neighbouring state in 2018.