Nearly one-third of the major reservoirs, which contribute to 70% of the surface water capacity in Tamil Nadu, are expected to reach maximum storage in a few days if the present inflow continues, according to the Water Resources Department.
The 15 major reservoirs, monitored by the WRD, now have a storage of 66.84 thousand million cubic feet (tmc) of water against their capacity of 198.28 tmc, thanks to the recent rain in the Western Ghats areas. The department expects the storage to increase to 10 tmc by Sunday depending on the inflow.
The water level at Mettur dam in Salem district, one of the major dams in the State, stood at 60.15 feet against its total scale of 120 ft. On Saturday, the dam received nearly 75,000 cusecs (cubic feet per second) and it is expected to increase to one lakh cusecs by Sunday.
Bountiful rainfall in the catchment areas in Karnataka brought copious inflow in some of the Tamil Nadu’s major reservoirs. According to officials, nearly 1.25 lakh cusecs of Cauvery water is being released from Kabini and about 50,000 cusecs is being released from the KRS dam upstream in Karnataka. If the Mettur dam continued to realise such heavy inflows, it would touch its maximum storage in 8-9 days. It is not only significant for irrigation needs in Cauvery delta districts but would also ensure drinking water supply to many districts, including Chennai.
Similarly, the level at Bhavanisagar dam in Erode has reached 88.72 ft on Saturday evening, against its full level of 105 ft. Torrential downpour in The Nilgiris over the past few days has boosted water levels in dams in the district. While Pykara dam has reached its maximum water level of 100 ft., several dams in the districts, including Mukurthi, Moyar and Geddai dams were almost full. The dams in Sholaiyar, Aliyar and Parambikulam also received a good inflow. According to officials, incessant rain in the Periyar dam and Thekkadi during the last 24 hours led to a rise in the Mullaperiyar reservoir. With steady inflow into the reservoir, the water level crossed the 125 feet mark on Saturday.
( With inputs from L.Srikrishna in Madurai, Rohan Premkumar in Udhagamandalam, Karthik Madhavan in Coimbatore, S.P.Saravanan in Erode, and V.Vignesh in Salem)
