With continuous rainfall and good inflow into Periyar dam, the Public Works Department engineers have stepped up discharge to 514 cusecs from mere 100 cusecs to improve the storage level in Vaigai dam on Tuesday.
Power generation has also commenced simultaneously at Tangedco hydel power generation station at Lower Camp in Goodalur. Of the four turbines in the station, one has started functioning to produce power.
The first turbine produced 27 MW of power on the first day. Initially, water was being pumped through one of the four giant pipes from the dam. Each turbine has the capacity to carry 400 cusecs of water from the dam.
The capacity of each turbine was around 35 MW. Two years ago, the engineers had rectified snags in two turbines and have kept them in running condition. The PWD planned to step up discharge further not only to improve the storage level in Vaigai dam but also to keep the storage level in Periyar dam below the permissible level of 136 feet. They do not want the inflow to drain into Arabian sea. The water level rose to 116.8 feet in Periyar dam on Tuesday morning with an inflow of 1,473 cusecs. The discharge was 514 cusecs.
But all efforts to improve the storage in Vaigai dam did not bring any desirable results. Water released from Periyar dam has failed to reach Vaigai dam till date. Water level stood at 30 feet only. The inflow slightly rose to 20 cusecs from 16 cusecs. Water was expected to reach Vaigai dam on Wednesday, PWD officials said. But PWD authorities had not given assurance to farmers regarding the supply of water for irrigation in the double cropping areas of Cumbum Valley.
