Farmers call for harnessing excess flow

‘Last August, 17 tmcft of Cauvery water drained into sea. This should be avoided’

The twin towers of St. Lourdes Church partially submerged in the water spread area of the Stanley Reservoir, when the level crossed the 68-foot mark. Photo: E. Lakshmi Narayanan

With the Cauvery carrying a huge quantum of water from the Kabini and Krishnaraja Sagar reservoirs in Karnataka over the past few days and fast filling up the Stanley Reservoir at Mettur, farmers and activists in Tamil Nadu have called for harnessing the excess flow.

They pointedly call for a plan to avoid a repeat of August last year when around 17 tmcft was let into the sea.

The level in the Mettur dam capped the 75-foot mark by Sunday evening, with the inflow exceeding 40,000 cusecs. If this rate continued for the next fortnight — a possibility as the catchments in Karnataka have been experiencing continued rains — the dam may surplus, forcing the PWD to discharge water into the river.

There will not be any problem if the realisation at the dam is below 50,000 cusecs. But in case of a sudden discharge in excess of one lakh cusecs after the dam surpluses, it becomes difficult to harness the water. This situation calls for proper planning, at least from the current year.

“Even by conservative estimates and the data available with the PWD for the period from August 4 to 8 last year, about 17 tmcft was let into the sea. Similar was the situation in 2005 and 2007. By diverting floodwaters in such situations through the renovated Grand Anicut Canal to parts of Pudukkottai district will mean a lot in the immediate context. Feeding the Veeranam tank through the Coleroon is another option. But the crux of the matter is the water should not be allowed to drain into the sea,” points out P. M. Natarajan, former Deputy Director (Geology), Ground Water Division.

For more than a decade, he has been advocating an intra-State river link plan, originating at Mayanur in Karur district, to quench the thirst of southern districts, besides feeding the system tanks in the parched Pudukkottai and Sivaganga districts.

“From the Mayanur Barrage, not more than 2,500 cusecs can be drawn at present by the canals on either side. The State government, with the help of the Centre, must expedite the intra-State river link proposal and plan for new check-dams along the Cauvery downstream of Srirangam to store even little quantum. In the short run, the water managers could do little,” says Kavandampatti R. Subramanian, deputy secretary of the Cauvery Delta Farmers Welfare Association

Jayalalithaa’s gesture

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Jayalalithaa has ordered the release of 6,000 cusecs of water from the Mettur dam till August 3 for the Adi Perukku festival.