As the northeast monsoon brought copious rainfall in several parts of Tamil Nadu and neighbouring Puducherry, the water storage of major tanks such as Ossudu and Bahour is brimming.
Puducherry has 84 irrigation tanks and more than 500 ponds which are the lifeline of ground water recharging systems, source for drinking water and backbone for the agriculture.
The officials said the water reached full tank level in 76 tanks. Heavy rainfall in the upper stream areas, feeder canals and rivers in the adjoining areas of Tamil Nadu brought abundant water to these tanks.
The present water level of the Oussudu Lake, the most important fresh- water lake of Puducherry region, reached its 3.5 m total depth and it has the capacity 540 million cubic feet (mcft). The lake covers an area of about 800 hectares spread across both Tamil Nadu and Puducherry. Of which 390 hectares are in Puducherry and the rest in Tamil Nadu.
P.Arivazhagan, Executive Engineer(Irrigation) of Puducherry Public Works told The Hindu, “ The water level Veedur dam at Villupuram district almost reached full tank level. Hence the surplus water discharged through Sankaraparani river and the water has been flowing into the Ossudu. Bahour reached its full level. ”
Similarly, the water level of Bahour, the second largest lake in Puducherry reached 3.60 meter total depth. In some areas, the canals and drains were overflowing.
The overflowing Then Pennaiyar river submerged a cause-way-cum- bed dam near Kumanthanmedu. Bed-dams such as Suthukeni and Sitheri are overflowing.
