With three of the five reservoirs under the Parambikulam-Aliyar Project (PAP) threatening to overflow within the next couple of days, the Water Resource Organisation (WRO) officials of the Public Works Department are gearing up for releasing water from Parambikulam to fill up the Thirumurthi Dam.
Repair works of the contour canal from Sircarpathy to Thirumurthi have been taken up in phases over a period of three years.
The current phase of the renovation work is expected to be completed by this week-end. After the curing of the concrete, water is likely to be released from Parambikulam to Thirumurthi after August first week.
Water released from Parambikulam will pass through Thoonakadavu and after generation of nearly 30 mw power at Sircarpathy, it will go through Contour Canal to reach Thirumurthi Dam.
Under the PAP scheme, already Sholayar is overflowing (storage as on date is 162.65 ft as against the Full Reservoir Level of 160 ft). Parambikulam is expected to overflow either on Monday night or by Tuesday. Water level in Aliyar Dam on Monday was 111.30 ft as against the FRL of 120 ft and the dam is likely to overflow within the next couple of days.
Storage in Amaravathi Dam was 78.68 ft as against the FRL of 90 ft and the dam is likely to overflow over the next week, the sources said.
But the overflowing of all the three reservoirs would largely depend on the continuance of the rainfall pattern that the Western Ghats witnessed over the last one week.
When the discharge of water from Parambikulam via Contour Canal begins, the Thirumurthi Dam is likely to witness improvement in storage.
At present, water level in the dam was 2.34 ft as against the FRL of 60 ft. PWD sources said that poor storage in Thirumurthi was not a cause for concern as the normal practice was to fill up the other reservoirs and let the surplus water to the Thirumurthi Dam during the South-West and North-East monsoons.
Water used to be released from Thirumurthi for the nearly 4 lakh acres under the PAP ayacut for irrigation during the non-monsoon or non-rainy season.
