Water was released from Bhavanisagar reservoir into the Lower Bhavani Project (LBP) main canal on Friday to benefit 1,03,500 acre in Erode, Tiruppur and Karur districts.
Minister for Housing and Urban Development S. Muthusamy, in the presence of Collector H. Krishnanunni and members of various farmers’ associations, released the water for the first crop season. Initially, 500 cusecs was discharged into the canal that will be stepped up to 2,300 cusecs in a phased manner.
Water will be released for 120 days till December 9, 2022, in the LBP main canal with ‘odd number’ sluice gates, and ‘even number’ sluice gates in the Chennasamudram canal ayacut areas. This will benefit 1,82,566.75 acre land in Sathyamangalam, Gobichettipalayam, Bhavani, Perundurai, Erode, Modakkurichi and Kodumudi in Erode district, 20,456.31 acre in Kangayam block in Tiruppur district and 3,976.94 ace in Pugalur block in Karur district. Thus, of the total 2.07 lakh acre in LBP ayacut areas, water release will benefit 1,03,500 acre.
At 9 a.m. on Friday, the water level in the reservoir stood at 102 feet against the full reservoir level of 105 feet. The inflow was 15,600 cusecs while the discharge was 500 cusecs into LBP canal, 500 cusecs into Arakkankottai and Thadapalli canals and 14,500 cusecs into River Bhavani. The storage was 30.31 tmc against the capacity of 32.800 tmc.
