Test run of the new regulator at Mukkombu in June

The trial run of a new barrage across the Kollidam river at Mukkombu will begin in the first week of June.

The barrage work, being undertaken at a cost of ₹387.6 crore, began in June 2019. The project should have been completed in May 2021. But the pandemic-induced lockdowns and flow of water in the Cauvery and the heavy discharge of surplus water in the Kollidam for a longer period delayed the completion of the project.

The barrage is almost ready for commissioning. Except for road connectivity works, almost all works of the barrage have been completed. The 768-meter-long new regulator has come up 75 meters away from the damaged structure downstream of the riverbed. It has two arms-southern and the northern arm. While the southern arm has 45 shutters, the northern arm has 10. L&T, which has executed the project, for the Public Works Department of the State government, has turned its attention to fine-tuning the electrical, electronic, mechanical and instrumentation works of the barrage, which have been provided with automatic hydraulic shutters.

A Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) has been constructed in between the southern and northern arms of the barrage. The ground plus two-floor facility will be the key centre of operating the barrage. While the ground floor is allocated for the section office, the first floor has a conference hall. The second floor has the modern SCADA room to monitor the flow of water in the Cauvery and the Kollidam rivers and regulate the flow of water.

Since it is all set to regulate the flow of water in the Kollidam, the officials have planned to conduct a trial run of the barrage in the first week of June.

Informed sources told The Hindu that arrangements had been made to test the functioning of all 55 hydrophilic shutters digitally from the SCADA centre. The shutters could also be tested manually. Similarly, each shutter would be checked individually from the digital panels. The shutters could be lifted by setting the needed level digitally. Corrective steps would be made if needed based on the outcome of test run.