Rain brings storage to the brim in reservoirs

Storage in Siruvani is fast improving and it is hardly four feet for overflow

The monsoon showers have helped considerably in improving the storage in many of the reservoirs under the Parambikulam — Aliyar Project (PAP) renewing the hopes of the farmers in Coimbatore and Tirupur districts. The showers have also considerably improved the storage in two major reservoirs, i.e., the drinking water sources for Coimbatore City i.e., Siruvani and Pilloor.

Hilly terrain

The continuing rain in the hilly terrain has already resulted in Sholayar reaching the full storage while the storage was fast reaching the brim in respect of Parambikulam, Aliyar and Thirumurthy.

In the event of the rainfall pattern continuing for some more days, the overflowing water from Sholayar and Parambikulam is expected to improve the storage in Thirumurthy dam, which is at the lowest at present. Parambikulam is expected to overflow within the next 36 to 48 hours while Aliyar and Amaravathi might require a week’s time, sources said.

The renovation of the contour canal taken up in four phases is going on now. Work for renovating the 49.3 km long canal at a cost of Rs. 185 crore was taken up in three phases on March 1, 2011. Work is being done in phases between the South West and North East monsoon.

The canal with nine tunnels for a 30 km distance and the lengthiest tunnel of five km was witnessing a massive renovation after 1965. Till, then only repair works were carried out on a need based approach and this resulted in seepage, percolation loss bringing down the yield from the anticipated level of 18 to 23 tmcft at Thirumurthy.

Officials anticipate the present phase of renovation works to be completed in a couple of days and then water would be released from Parambikulam towards Tamil Nadu and via Thoonakadavu — Peruvaripallam and Sircarpathy, the water would be taken to Thirumurthi dam to improve the storage via Contour Canal.

On completion of the works, the full anticipated yield will help in irrigating the nearly 4 lakh hectares in the four zones of the PAP ayacut.

Storage in Siruvani, a drinking water source for Coimbatore City was fast improving and it was hardly four feet for overflow.

The reservoir had 45.93 ft storage as against the FRL of 49.54. With the water spread area being wide, officials anticipate the reservoir to surplus within the next few days, provided the rainfall pattern improves or continues to remain steady.

Pilloor

The other major drinking water source Pilloor was already overflowing and both Siruvani and Pilloor cater to the more than 60 per cent of the drinking water needs of Coimbatore City besides a number of wayside habitations.

The monsoon showers had helped the hill areas considerably and increased the storage in the catchments of various reservoirs, while it was very disappointing in the plains.

Rainfall

Rainfall recorded in mm at 8.30 a.m. on Sunday at various places; Sholayar 30, Parambikulam 25, Thoonakadavu 14, Peruvaripallam 10, Aliyar 4.5, Thirumurthy 0.5, Upper Nirar 23, Lower Nirar 9, Kadamparai 3, Vettaikaranpudur 8.4, Makkinampatti 3.1, Manacadavu and Navamalai 4.2, Annur 1.6, Coimbatore South 4, Pollachi 5, TNAU 1.5, Airport 0.8, Valparai taluk 29, PAP 21, Chincona 44 and Chinnakallar 23.