Farmers in the district have their fingers crossed as the water situation is precarious. With the hope of rainfall from South-West monsoon receeding, farmers in all the three ayacuts: Thadapalli-Arakankottai, Kalingarayan and Lower Bhavani Project, are in a dilemma, unable to decide on getting prepared for the Kharif season.
Water requirement during the season for Thadapalli-Arakankottai canal’s ayacut spread over about 25,000 acres is 10.6 tmc and and in Kalingarayan canal's ayacut of around 15,700 acres, there is a requirement for 8 tmc, according to farmers' organisations.
But, the storage in Bhavani Sagar Reservoir, the water source for all the three canals is just 2.8 tmc, against the capacity of 32.8 tmc. On Monday evening, the depth was at 42.45 feet and the inflow was a dismal 711 cusecs, official sources said.
A crisis is looming in Kalingarayan canal area where there are standing crops of sugarcane on 5,000 acres and banana on about 2,000 acres. But, with the current availability, the water will not last even for 10 days.
The PWD will be in a position to release water only if there is a storage of at least 50 per cent of the required extent, official sources said. The cause for concern is that the storage position in the hydel reservoirs in The Nilgiris district, from where surplussing water reaches the Bhavani Sagar Reservoir, is also dismal.
The farmers in Kalingarayan canal ayacyut have started the process of turmeric cultivation in Kodumudi and Unjalur belts with well water, replicating the practice in the delta districts. But, the well water availability is too low for sustaining the standing crops, representative of Kalingarayan Pasana Vivasayigal Sangam S. Kulandaivelu said.
