With the flow of water in the Vaigai being on the higher side in Ramanthapuram district and most of the tanks in Vaigai old ayacut, including the Big Tank, having comfortable storage, draining of flood water into the Bay of Bengal has become inevitable.
Though the surplus of 7,300 cusecs released from Vaigai dam on Wednesday morning was reduced to 5,000 cusecs in the evening, the heavy rainfall reported in the last two days downstream the dam has added to the water discharged through the river.
Peranai in Dindigul district reported 12,000 cusecs of water flow in the morning and Madurai Collector S. Aneesh Sekhar had warned people not to venture into the river and keep the cattle away from the river.
“We are getting 2,000 cusecs to 3,000 cusecs of additional flow at Parthibanur regulator more than what was recorded at Viraghanoor dam,” a Public Works Department source said.
The flow has been swelling as the river crosses each district with the drainage of all the catchment areas of the river converging into it.
“Since this is flood water, regulating the flow has been very difficult and within the short span of time whatever quantum of water could be held at different bed dams and check dams in the tail-end regions have been done. However, since the flow is high and almost all the tanks are full, release of water into the river has become inevitable and more water could flow into the river by Thursday,” an engineer said.
“A good buffer in the Big Tank has to be maintained as a precautionary measure, as more rain is expected under North East monsoon in December too,” he added.
Ramanathapuram Collector Shankar Lal Kumawat said that efforts were being made to absorb the maximum water possible in the tanks before it is let to drain into the sea.
Water has been diverted through a series pf bed dams and held in check dams below Parthibanur regulator to the maximum extent possible. It would recharge groundwater to a significant extent, the engineer said.
Besides, even draining of water into the sea will serve the ecological purpose.
