The realisation of water in the Cauvery at Mettur touched two lakh cusecs (cubic feet per second) on Sunday, forcing the Public Works Department (PWD) to maintain the discharge at over two lakh cusecs for the second consecutive day.
The inflow into the Mettur dam, which stood at 1.91 lakh cusecs on Sunday morning, touched two lakh cusecs at noon. The last time this happened was in 2005, when the dam received 2.41 lakh cusecs.
The discharge from the dam was stepped up to 2.05 lakh cusecs late on Saturday evening — the first time it crossed the two lakh cusecs mark. Following continuously heavy realisation of water in the Cauvery, the discharge was maintained at 2.05 lakh cusecs through the thermal plant sluices and the 16-vent surplus weir sluices throughout the day on Sunday, according to PWD sources. Another 800 cusecs was released in the east and west canals of the dam for farming in the western districts.
The water level at the dam stood at 119.86 ft, as against the full level of 120 ft. The storage was 93.248 tmc ft, as against the dam’s capacity of 93.47 tmc ft.
Due to the heavy discharge of water, the situation remained grim for villages in low-lying areas of the Mettur, Edappadi and Sankagiri blocks in Salem district and Kumarapalayam, Tiruchengode and Paramathivelur in Namakkal district.
The official machinery in both Salem and Namakkal districts were put on high alert.
