Continuous rain in the capital district over the past four days may have drowned several vacation plans, but it has surely showered gains on the water front in the region.
The water levels in both the dams here – the Peppara Dam, the sole drinking water source for the city, and the Neyyar Dam, which will soon be made an additional water source for Thiruvananthapuram – are inching closer to their maximum carrying capacities following good rain in the catchment areas and elsewhere.
According to the Irrigation Department officials, the Neyyar Dam was now under round-the-clock monitoring. The water level has already passed 82m and if the rain continued thus, could soon touch the maximum capacity of 84.75m, the officials says.
Closer to the city, the water level at the Peppara Dam, fixed at a maximum of 104.5m, was about to touch the 100m mark, with the levels brushing the 98.3m pointer on Thursday. The rain over the last one week has seen the levels in the dam rising by about 1.5m, officials at the dam say.
But it remains to be seen if the rising water levels can be utilised to benefit the city, as there is no way now for the Kerala Water Authority (KWA) to store the surplus water unless the capacity of the dam is enhanced. Repeated efforts of the KWA to convince the government of the need to raise the dam’s crest by six metres have met a nought.
The raise, which can be made possible by lowering of the radial gates so that the carrying capacity goes up to a height of 110.5m as envisaged when the dam was constructed, has been a long-pending demand from the KWA.
Though the government agreed in principle for a three-metre raise in 2012, nothing materialised, according to a senior KWA official. The conditions laid down by the Forests authorities were “too stringent.” Opposition from environmentalists was also strong, he adds.
But the KWA is not too let down by the delay, since it has already started making moves for an alternative water source for the city. The proposal for a 115MLD treatment plant drawing water from the Neyyar Dam, aimed at providing the city with 100MLD and Maranalloor and surrounding panchayats with the rest, is likely to be taken up by the KWA Board next week. The technical wing of the utility has already found the project, expected to be in place in 15 months, to be feasible.
