The expert team of the Irrigation Design and Research Board (IDRB) which visited the Mullaperiyar dam on Tuesday found six additional leakages to the dam after the water level rose in the reservoir. The visit was prompted by the direction of the State government to the IDRB to investigate into the leakages of the dam and submit a report.
The team members included IDRB Chief Engineer C.N.Sathidevi, Superintending Engineer Rajasekhar and Irrigation Department Executive Engineer George Daniel.
The team reached the Mullaperyar dam about 9 a.m. and returned in the afternoon. According to Mr Daniel, the water level in the dam was 135.7 ft on Tuesday. He said that the team had found six to seven leakages and would submit a report to the government.
There was no rainfall recorded in the catchment area of the dam and the inflow of water was 1,511 cubic feet per second and the discharge of water to Tamil Nadu was1,370 cubic feet. The water storage was 6,042 million cubic feet on Tuesday.
The State government in August 2007 had deputed the IDRB to prepare the project report for a new dam at Mullaperiyar.
Water level in Idukki dam: There was a nominal fall in the water level in the wake of increase in the production level at the Moolamattom power house. The generation of electricity at the power plant was 2.9 mu, which was in a low level for more than a week owing to the repair work of a generator. The water level in the reservoir on Tuesday was 2,378.20 ft from the previous day’s record of 2,378.24. Though the inflow from the Mullaperiyar dam in to the Periyar has nominally declined, the water flow through the river continued almost in the same level, though no rainfall was recorded in the catchment area, a senior official said at the Dam Monitoring cell at Cheruthoni.
