Water discharge from Mettur dam for delta irrigation stopped on Saturday evening.
Following demands from farmers in the delta region to discharge water from the Mettur dam to save samba crops, Chief Minister M.K. Stalin ordered the opening of two TMCs of water from the dam from February 3. Initially, the water discharge stood at 6,600 cusecs (6,000 cusecs for irrigation and 600 cusecs for drinking water); later, it reduced to 5,600 cusecs; and on Friday, it reduced to 4,600 cusecs. The Chief Minister also extended the water release from Mettur Dam until Saturday.
Meanwhile, on Saturday at 6 p.m., water discharge was stopped. Officials attached to the Water Resources Department (WRD) said that, a total of 3.4 TMC of water was released from the dam from February 3 to 10.
On Saturday, the dam’s water level stood at 66.52 feet against its full capacity of 120 feet. The storage level stood at 29.78 TMC against its full capacity of 93.47 TMC. Inflow into the dam increased to 58 cusecs from Friday’s inflow of 25 cusecs. The amount of water discharged from the dam into the Cauvery for drinking water purposes stood at 1,000 cusecs.
