With depleting rainfall level indicating the exit of the South West Monsoon, the only solace is that the Sholayar dam is overflowing and the outflow improving the storage in Parambikulam.
There was an appreciable rainfall in the last 24 hours that ended on Sunday, but the 24 hours that ended on Monday witnessed only a very meagre rainfall in the catchments.
There was a sharp and drastic fall in the quantum of rainfall on Sunday compared to the previous day.
However, the continuing rain in the catchments beyond Tamil Nadu has helped in Sholayar dam overflowing at 161.20 ft as against the Full Reservoir Level of 160 ft. The outflow is reaching the Parambikulam Reservoir improving its storage.
Storage in reservoirs (Full Reservoir Level in brackets): Parambikulam had a storage of 38.09 ft (72), Aliyar 81.30 (120), Thirumurthy 53.79 (60) and Amaravathy 49.58 (90). Almost all the dams except Thirumurthy are witnessing an inflow.
With the existing storage and the water coming from Sholayar dam, officials are pinning hopes on either a timely or an early onset of North East Monsoon, which can bring some benefits though not to the extent of South West Monsoon.
Siruvani dam, one of the city’s main drinking water sources, had a storage of 21.4 ft as against the FRL of 50 ft.