All dams in west inching up to full reservoir level
COIMBATORE: The reservoirs in Western parts of the state have already reached their brim and the Northeast monsoon which commenced last week is expected to bring heavy rains in the coming days. The comfortable storage and expectation of good rain have enthused the water managers in the state.
One of the major dams in the state Mettur Stanley Reservoir is gradually inching towards its full capacity level again and the healthy trend has assured the drinking water and agriculture needs of 12 districts.
Water level in Mettur dam has risen by four feet over the last four days from 113 feet on October 17 to 117 feet on Sunday.
“Water level in Mettur now stands at 117.040 feet as against its full reservoir level of 120 feet at 8 am on Sunday. Inflow into the dam, however dipped to 16,250 cusecs in the morning from 27,985 cusecs on Saturday. The dam recorded a good inflow of 34,722 cusecs on Friday. As the momentum of the inflow is likely to continue for few more days, the dam may reach its FRL again in a few more days,” said a PWD official.
The dam has reached its full reservoir level of 120 feet for the second subsequent year. It was for the first time after a gap of four years, the dam reached its full reservoir level of 120 feet on July 23, 2018. And for this year, the dam crossed its FRL for the first time on September 7 and again on September 24 due to heavy inflow following good rain in the Cauvery catchments. About 2,000 cusecs of water is released for drinking water purposes.
Similarly, the Bhavani Sagar Dam is barely five feet less to reach its full reservoir capacity of 105 feet and realises a good inflow of 9,986 cusecs on Sunday 12 noon, while the storage was 28.954 tmc against the capacity of 32.800 tmc. The Pillur dam has been overflowing continuously for the past few days with River Bhavani in full flow.
Moreover, the Sholayar dam has also almost reached its brim at 159.19 as against the Full Reservoir Level of 160 ft. The surplus water from Sholayar reaches Parambikulam Reservoir improving its storage too.
The Sholayar dam, which is the second deepest in Asia, receives 532 cusecs and lets out 803 cusecs of water. Similarly, the Aliyar dam had storage of 113 feet as against the full storage level of 120ft and Amaravathy dam had storage of 77.30 feet as against its full capacity of 90 feet in Tirupur district.
Similarly, the Siruvani dam, which caters to the drinking water requirements of people in Coimbatore district is also in a comfortable position. As on October 20, when the dam was recorded last, it had around 44 feet of water against its full reservoir capacity of 50 feet.
With all the dams witnessing a good inflow due to continuing rain, officials expressed hope that they could manage to sail through next year without having to face any water crisis in the western region.