After nearly a year, the water level at the Stanley Reservoir in Mettur crossed the 80 ft mark on Sunday, raising the hopes of farmers of delta region on early release of water for farm operations.
With the inflow remaining constant for the last few weeks, following the release of water from Krishnaraja Sagar and Kabini reservoirs in Karnataka, the water level in Mettur dam was gradually increasing, bringing relief to both the official machinery and farmers.
Except for a few days this month, when the discharge of water from the dam was stepped up to 10,000 cusecs for the Maha Pushkaram festival, the water position has been rising since mid-August.
The water level in the dam stood at 80.70 ft on Sunday against its full reservoir level of 120 feet. The storage stood at 42.698 tmc against the dam’s full capacity of 93.47 tmc. The water level in the dam stood at 85.28 ft on the same day last year.
The inflow into the dam on Sunday was 8,597 cusecs and the discharge 2,000 cusecs. The inflow into the dam touched more than 20,000 cusecs on three days this month — 21,973 cusecs on September 4; 22,0777 cusecs September 8 and 20,179 cusecs on September 11.
The inflow into the dam, which was 6,479 cusecs on September 21, rose to 11,849 cusecs on Friday and to 12,092 cusecs on Saturday. However, there was a fall in the inflow on Sunday.
The PWD sources said that water was released from the Mettur dam for farm activities on September 20 last year, when the water level was at 87.68 ft water (storage 50.39 tmc). With the inflow remaining at the same level for the next fortnight, the water level is expected to cross the 90 feet mark well by the first week of October.
