With continuous steady inflow, the water level in Periyar and Vaigai dams continued to rise on Wednesday. While the level in the Periyar dam has increased by half foot to 120 feet at 6 a.m. on Wednesday, the level in the Vaigai dam rose by more than two and a half feet and stood at 37.83 feet.
As the inflow into the Periyar dam continued to be around 1,650 cusecs for the second day, there was a quantum jump in the flow of water into Vaigai dam – from a mere 640 cusecs to 1,961 cusecs.
The immediate benefit of the increasing storage in the Vaigai dam is that of the easing threat of drinking water crisis looming large over Madurai city. The Corporation officials were getting ready with an alternative plan to overcome water shortage in the event of Vaigai dam not getting enough inflow.
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However, the farmers of the double crop area (around 45,000 acres), between Peranai in Dindigul district and Kallandiri in Madurai district, and the single crop area (around 85,000 acres) in Madurai and Sivaganga districts will have to wait for water release for irrigation from the Vaigai dam till the combined Periyar water storage in the two reservoirs reached 6,000 mcft.
The combined storage stood at 3,361 mcft only. The discharge from the Periyar and Vaigai dam stood at 600 cusecs and 60 cusecs respectively.
Sothuparai dam recorded 88 mm of rainfall followed by Peranai 52, Veerapandi 43, Shanmuganadi 40, Manjalar dam 26, Gudalur, Thaniyamangalam and Uthamapalayam 25 mm each, Tekkadi 17.2, Vaigai dam 16, Andipatti 15, Kodaikanal 13, Marudhanadi 12, Melur 10, Idayapatti 8, Periyar dam 7.6, Kuppanampatti 7.3 and Pulipatti 7 mm.
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