For the first time in the last 14 years, the water level in Krishnaraja Sagar (KRS) reservoir across the Cauvery in Mandya district was hovering above 100 ft. in May that is usually considered to be peak summer.
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The water level as on Sunday was 100.02 ft. as against 87.75 ft. during the same time last year against the full reservoir level of 124.80 ft. In 2020 the water level was at 96.16 ft.
Officials in the KRS said the last time the reservoir had over 100 ft. of water during peak summer was in May 2008 when it was hovering at 105 ft. Ahead of the south west monsoon slated to arrive in late May or early June, the cumulative storage levels in the major reservoirs of the Cauvery basin are comfortable, according to officials.
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The combined storage capacity of the KRS, Hemavathi, Harangi and Kabini was 114.57 thousand million cubic (tmc) ft against which the present storage was 56.33 tmc ft., amounting to nearly 50% of the installed capacity. The cumulative storage in the four reservoirs during the same period last year was 36.44 tmc ft.
While KRS’ with a gross storage capacity of 49.45 tmc ft., has 22.82 tmc ft. of water as against 15.76 tmc ft. of water that was available last year, Hemavathi with a gross storage is 37.10 tmc ft., has 20.56 tmc ft. of water as against 11.21 tmc ft. during the same period last year.
The other two reservoirs are Harangi which had 5.42 tmc ft. of water while Kabini has 7.53 tmc ft. of water as on Sunday.
The authorities said with the south west monsoon slated to arrive early this year as forecast by the Indian Meteorological Department, the inflow to the reservoirs may start early. If the monsoon is normal for the year, then the outflow from the reservoirs could commence early.