The water released from Kabini reservoir in Karnataka three days ago reached the Mettur Dam here on Sunday morning.
“The water released from Kabini reservoir on late Thursday evening reached Mettur Dam at 9.30 a.m. on Sunday,” Public Works Department (PWD) sources told The Hindu.
The realisation of water in River Cauvery at Mettur which stood at 616 cusecs on Saturday and 847 cusecs at 8.00 a.m. on Sunday, gradually rose to 8,183 cusecs by noon. “The inflow is further expected to increase by evening,” the PWD sources said.
It may be recalled that 15,000 cusecs of water was released from the Kabini Reservoir as it was fast filling up following widespread rainfall in the catchment areas in Kerala.
Following the increased inflow, the water level in the dam stood at 40.21 ft at Sunday noon against its full level of 120 ft. The storage level stood at 12.198 tmc against the dam’s full capacity of 93.47 tmc. About 500 cusecs of water is being discharged from the dam for meeting the drinking water needs in the delta districts, the sources said.
The Mettur town and the surrounding areas experienced 66 m.m. rainfall in the last 24 hours that ended at 8.00 a.m. on Sunday.
Usually, the sluices of the Stanley Reservoir were opened for commencing farm operations in a dozen delta districts on the customary date of June 12. Due to the poor storage level, water was not released from the dam on the customary date. This was the seventh consecutive year that water was not released from Mettur Dam on the customary date.
