The water available in Sathanur Reservoir is likely to feed only 88 irrigation tanks attached to the canals, for ten days in the first week of February.
Not even a drop of water would be available for direct canal irrigation that constitutes major part of the ayacut, for the third consecutive year.
These details became obvious at the consultative meeting of farmers and officials convened here on Friday to discuss about the possible date of water release from the dam. According to a report submitted in the meeting by the PWD Water Resource Organisation, water level in the dam stood at 84.35 feet as against the full reservoir level of 119 feet. Nearly 1,887 mcft (million cubic feet) of water is estimated to be stored in the dam against the full capacity of 7,321 mcft.
Silt, estimated evaporation loss and water that need to be kept apart for irrigation schemes reduce the water in dam up to 1,291.51 mcft. Out of the 595.49 mcft finally available for irrigation, 284.6 mcft, need to be released in the river downstream for the benefit of Thirukkoilur Old Ayacut. Hence left and right bank canals of the dam that supposed to feed 45,000 acres of land in Tiruvannamalai and Villupuram districts are left with mere 310.89 mcft. Only 88 system tanks attached to the canals would get water and there would be no water for direct canal irrigation.
Apart from the scarcity of water, the release also gets delayed. District Collector A. Gnanasekaran presided over the meeting. C. Jayaraman, chairman of Sathanur Reservoir Project Committee said that evaporation loss is notional and drinking water requirements are exaggerated. The release should be made for 15 days as against 10 days planned by administration. He also demanded that canals and sluices of irrigation tanks be repaired before the release to make use of the meagre water available in the dam.
