Power generation at the Moolamattom power house has been reduced to the lowest level with a view to arresting the considerable drop in the water level at the Idukki dam.
An official at the Dam Monitoring and Research Station, Vazhathoppe, on Saturday said the southwest monsoon so far had no impact on the reservoir level. The water level continues to drop even as power generation has been cut down since May 29. The official said it has remained below 3 million units a day for the past five days. The water level in the dam on Saturday was 2,300.98 ft in comparison with the level of 2,314.7 ft the same day last year. The storage is 10.94% of its reservoir level of 2,403 ft. The power generation recorded on Saturday was 2.42 mu.
In view of the slow pace of monsoon in the High Ranges, the water level in various dams continued to drop considerably. The power generation in the Pallivasal power house has been stopped with the water level in the Mattupetty dam reaching 12 ft against its capacity of 162 ft. The water level at the Kundala dam on the upstream of the Mattupetty dam, also feeding the Pallivasal power house, has been at the bottom level.
The Kundala dam reached the full water level during the northeast monsoon, as the catchment mainly falls in rain shadow areas. The Pallivasal power house produced 2 mu of power and it has the capacity to reuse the tail water for power generation.
The boating station at the Mattupetty reservoir has been shifted with the fall in water level. In the Mullaperiyar dam, boating has been banned by the Forest Department after the water level reached below 109 ft last week. Tamil Nadu has been drawing water from the dam only for meeting the drinking water requirements.
The total reservoir level of various dams in the State was only 14% of the total capacity on Saturday. The power demand in the State had reached nearly 80 mu a day during the extreme summer season when consumption level was at a high. Now the total consumption in the State is nearly 64 mu a day.
