Madurai
After 32 months, water level in Mullaperiyar dam on Tuesday crossed 136 feet and was fast rising towards the permissible level of 142 feet. With the inflow increasing from 9,600 cusecs at 10 a.m. to 16,000 cusecs at 8.30 p.m. the level suddenly leaped to 138 feet at 8.30 p.m.
Tamil Nadu Public Works Department, Chief Engineer (Madurai Region), R. Selvaraj, is camping at Thekkady, source said.
Earlier, Tamil Nadu PWD officials have alerted their counterparts in Kerala on the rising level as the level touched 136 feet at 4.a.m. on Tuesday.
“This was just a general alert on the water position. The next alert would be issued when it touched 138 feet,” said Executive Engineer (Periyar-Vaigai Basin Circle), T. Subramanian.
However, the first flood warning would be issued to Kerala Government when the level reaches 140 feet. This would be followed by the second flood warning at 141 feet and the third and final warning at 142 feet.
“Afterwards, the entire inflow to the dam would be released through the shutters to Kerala side,” he added.
First time touched 142 feet in 2014
After 35 years, water level in the dam touched the maximum permissible level of 142 feet for the first time on November 21, 2014. This happened within four months after the 13 shutters of the dam were lowered, thus raising the permissible storage level to 142 feet from 136 feet on July 17, 2014.
This was possible after Supreme Court, in May 2014, gave its verdict that allowed Tamil Nadu to raise the water level to 142 feet from 136 feet in May 2014. The level of the British era dam was lowered from 152 feet to 136 feet in 1979 after Kerala raised concerns over the safety of the dam.
The level touched 142 feet for the second time on December 8, 2015. Since then, the water level did not even touch 136 feet in 2016 and 2017.
Maximum discharge
Tamil Nadu PWD officials were making efforts to withdraw maximum water from the dam through the tunnel. “At present 2,300 cusecs of water is being drawn to store the water in Vaigai reservoir,” he added.
With a comfortable storage of 9,824 mcft of Periyar credit, the farmers of single crop area in Madurai district have already demanded release of water from Vaigai dam for irrigating 85,000 acres in Melur region.
Water level
Water level in Periyar dam stood at 136.10 feet (142 feet) at 6 a.m. on Tuesday with an inflow of 6.143 cusecs and a discharge of 2,200 cusecs. The level in the Vaigai dam was 61.61 feet (71 feet) with an inflow of 2,052 cusecs and a discharge of 960 cusecs.
The combined Periyar credit stood at 9,824 mcft. Rainfall recorded (in mm) during the last 24 hours ending at 6 a.m. was: Periyar dam 51.4, Tekkady 21.2, Gudalur 3.8, Shanmuganadi 1, Uthamapalayam 3.6, Kodaikanal 1.8.
