Water will be released from Bhavani Sagar Dam for irrigation on August 23.
A press release issued by Chief Minister Jayalalithaa on Sunday stated that the water release would benefit 1,03,500 acres in Erode, Tirupur and Karur districts. This followed representation from farmers in the areas.
Public Works Department (PWD) officials said they were yet to get instructions from the government regarding the quantity of water and number of days of release. The details were expected on Monday.
According to PWD officials, water level in the dam stood at 85.21 feet during the reading taken at 8 am on Sunday against its full capacity of 105 feet.
“The storage was 18.610 TMC (thousand million cubic feet) against the full storage capacity of 32.8TMC,” they said and added that the inflow was 2,276 cusecs while the outflow was 1,200 cusecs.
The officials said that the inflow and outflow were almost the same for about a week.
“The water level, which was a mere 48.08 feet on June 18, increased steadily over the next few weeks due to good showers received in catchment areas. The maximum inflow was 14,028 cusecs which was recorded on July 22.
Farmers have welcomed the government’s decision to open sluices of the canal for irrigation. They said that usually, the water release would begin on August 15.
K.S. Sivasenapathy, chairman of the joint action committee, told The Hindu that water would indirectly benefit over 3 lakh acres.
