In a rare bounty of water all the 10 major reservoirs in the district have reached almost at the Full Reservoir Level (FRL) on Wednesday thanks to the continuing heavy rain in the catchment areas of these dams.
The Irrigation Department authorities have issued a warning about the possibility of opening of its shutters at any time from now as most of these dams have reached the FRL and are likely to overflow.
The water level of Malampuzha, the biggest irrigation dam of the State, on Wednesday, rose to 114.39 meter as against the 115 meter FRL.
Malampuzha Irrigation Division authorities here said the shutters of the dam will be opened if the water level rose by another half meter.
The reservoir level in Chulliyar was 153.70 meter storage as against the 154.08 FRL. Meenkara was 155.99 meter as against the 156.36 FRL. The reservoir level of Walayar reached 202.20 meter on Wednesday as against the 203 meter FRL. This is also the case with the reservoirs of Kanjirapuzha, Mangalam and Pothundy.
The Water Resources Department had issued the final warning to people living on both sides of the rivers and canals of these reservoirs to be vigilant as the shutters of the reservoirs could be opened at any time.
In the four major dams of the Parambikulam group of the Parambikulam Aliyar Project (PAP) also, the water level has reached the FRL on Wednesday.
The water level of Parambikulam reservoir rose to 1825 feet ; Aliyar 1050 feet; Tamil Nadu Sholayar – 3290 feet and Kerala Sholayar 2663 feet.
The shutters of the Aliyar dam was opened for a few days last week.
The waters of the Parambikulam group of reservoirs are crucial for both Kerala and Tamil Nadu because it is shared between the two States under the inter-state Parambikulam Aliyar Project (PAP) agreement.
The PAP officials here said since the reservoirs are full this water year, the division is expected to be smooth between the two States.
In the last meeting of the Joint Water Regulatory Board of the two States held recently, the Tamil Nadu side had agreed to release water till January for paddy cultivation in Chittur taluk from PAP.
But the farmers of Chittur demanded water till March as the second crop of paddy cultivation already got delayed for nearly two months this season.
The officials of the Kerala side said the next meeting of the Regulatory Board scheduled for January will decide on further release of water from PAP.
