The catchment areas and Periyar dam site received heavy downpour, which raised water level in the dam by one foot to 110.20 feet on Tuesday. The sharp showers cheered cardamom growers in Idukki district in Kerala and farmers in Theni district.
The dam witnessed a three-fold increase in inflow in 24 hours. The discharge was restricted to 225 cusecs, and if this trend continued, storage in Periyar dam would improve substantially, farmers said.
Though chances of releasing water from Periyar dam for irrigation of the first crop in the double-cropping areas in Cumbum valley are remote, farmers in Gudalur and some parts of Cumbum have started preliminary works like preparing land.
Despite a sharp increase in discharge from Periyar dam seven days ago, water has not reached Vaigai dam till Tuesday evening. Even after the discharge was stepped up to 300 cusecs, the situation has not changed.
Disappointed with the situation, Public Works Department officials scaled down the discharge to 225 cusecs later.
With no inflow, water level in Vaigai dam is inching towards dead storage, posing a grave threat to drinking water supply to southern districts, especially Madurai city.
If the water level went below the dead storage level of 20 feet, the PWD could not draw water from the dam.
Idukki district received heavy downpour since Monday night. Kodaikanal and the surrounding areas, Iyyalur, Vadamadurai and nearby areas received good rainfall on Tuesday evening.
The heavy inflow into Periyar dam had encouraged PWD officials to step up discharge further in the days to come to improve the storage in Vaigai dam.
Rainfall recorded at various places at 8 a.m on Tuesday was (in mm): Periyar dam 72.2, Thekkadi 52.2, Veerapandi 20, Gudalur 8 and Uthamapalayam 5.4.
