After a gap of four years, Tamil Nadu has started realising heavy inflows of Cauvery water during the June-September southwest monsoon.
As on Thursday, the State realised about 75.7 thousand million cubic feet (tmc) at Biligundlu, which is on the State’s border with Karnataka, as against its share of 28.34 tmc for the elapsed period. The surplus was around 47 tmc.
The last time the State recorded higher-than-expected inflow was in July 2013, when the realisation was 75.85 tmc. Between June and September that year, Tamil Nadu received 192.3 tmc, as against its share of 134 tmc for the four months. In 2014 too, the total receipt for July was marginally higher than the month’s quota of 34 tmc.
Ever since the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal gave its interim (1991) and final (2007) awards, Tamil Nadu has, on many an occasion, complained against Karnataka for not releasing its share of water, especially during the monsoon.
Considering the current rate of inflow and discharge recorded by the Mettur reservoir and the quantum of release from the Kabini and Krishnaraja Sagar reservoirs in Karnataka, the chances of Mettur touching full reservoir level in a few days look very bright, said an irrigation expert.
Discharge stepped up
The discharge of water from the Stanley Reservoir at Mettur was on Friday stepped up to 20,000 cusecs for use in farm operations in the delta region.
The sluices of the reservoir were opened by Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami on Thursday when, initially, 2,000 cusecs was released.
The discharge, which was increased to 4,000 cusecs at 4 p.m. on Thursday, was boosted further since then, and stood at 20,000 cusecs on Friday.
There was a sudden slump in the realisation of water in the Cauvery river at Mettur on Thursday evening. The inflow into the Mettur dam, which stood at 1,01,277 cusecs on Thursday morning, dropped to 69,590 cusecs by evening.
The inflow into the dam has been on the rise since July 10.
The water level at the dam stood at 113.01 ft on Friday evening, as against its full reservoir level of 120 ft.
