The Water Resources Department continued to reinforce the bund of the Kollidam river at Sirugambur for the second consecutive day on Friday as erosion caused by the heavy flow in the river threatened to trigger a breach on Thursday.
The ‘vertical slip’ on the bund, about 1.5 km downstream of the Upper Anicut (Mukkombu) near Tiruchi, gave some anxious time for the district officials. The timely detection of the erosion by the WRD team during their rounds had averted a breach, which could have lead to flooding of the adjacent residential areas and agricultural fields.
The bund had eroded for about 110 metres as the river takes a slight curve at the spot, WRD officials told The Hindu. Officials swung into action to source and dump stone boulders to reinforce the bund as using sand bags was not an immediate option in view of the heavy water flow in the river.
Till Friday evening, more than 100 loads of stone boulders, secured from various quarries, have been dumped for a height of about four metres at the spot to prevent further erosion, according to the sources in the department. The work continued through the night on Thursday with temporary lighting arrangements being made at the spot. “We have completed nearly 70% of the work and expect to the finish the task late on Friday night,” an official said.
A senior official indicated that once the water flow receded, the bund could be further reinforced with sand bags and casuarinas poles. Although vertical slips were noticed at three spots, the other two places were not a cause for worry as there were padugai lands adjoining those places, he said.
Meanwhile, WRD officials heaved a sigh of relief as the water discharge from the Mettur reservoir and realisation at Upper Anicut started coming down on Friday.
However, WRD and revenue officials have been instructed to maintain a close vigil and monitor the bunds along the river to identify vulnerable spots. Kollidam, being essentially a flood carrier, does not normally get continuous water flow but for short periods. “But there has been heavy flood discharge in the river almost continuously for the past 45 days and hence the river bund had come under pressure this year,” an official observed.
