If monsoon continues to be “as healthy as it is today,” there is a possibility of opening the Stanley reservoir at Mettur for delta irrigation on June 12, Agriculture Minister Veerapandi S. Arumugam said here on Monday.
The Minister was here to inspect ongoing construction works of the Super Speciality Hospital to be dedicated to nation by Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi on August 20.
He told reporters that prospects of the south-west monsoon, which set it over Kerala a few days back, were “bright” as the catchments of the reservoir had also started getting heavy rain.
“In the last two days, the inflow into the reservoir has shown a steep increase. We hope it will improve further in the days to come so that the dam can record a moderate water level of 90 feet (full reservoir level of 120 feet) which, in turn, will help the government open the sluices for the delta irrigation this year.”
Senior PWD officials in Mettur pointed out that though the stipulation for opening the dam for irrigation required a minimum level of 90 feet, there had been cases when it was opened with lesser storage.
“But, since the monsoon is gaining vigour, there is a possibility of opening it either in the last week of June or in the second week of July…” said the official.
The dam had started receiving good inflow. From 1100 cusecs some four days back, it had gone up to 6000 cusecs on Monday. As on Monday evening, the water level stood at 77.840 feet with storage of 39.837 tmcft.
