COIMBATORE: Water has been released from Bhavani Sagar Dam in Erode for irrigation under Lower Bhavani Project (LBP) in Erode, Tirupur and Karur districts.

Shutters of the dam were raised by Erode Collector Raja Gopal Sunkara to release water into the LBP canal.

Chief Minister MK Stalin has ordered the release of water from the dam for 120 days from August 15 to December 13 for irrigation.

On Tuesday noon, the water level in the dam stood at 83.34 feet as against its full reservoir level of 105 feet. It has storage of 17.52 TMC as against the total storage capacity of 32.80 TMC.

Therefore, the farmers were advised to use the water judiciously.

Water discharged from LBP main canal will irrigate 1,82,566 acres of land in Sathyamangalam, Nambiyur, Gobichettipalayam, Bhavani, Erode, Perundurai, Modakurichi and Kodumudi in Erode district, 20,456.31 acres in Kangeyam region in Tirupur besides 3,976 acres in Pugalur in Karur district. Of the total 2, 07,000 acres, 1, 03,500 acres will be benefited in the first harvest.

Meanwhile, inflow into the Mettur dam remained critically low at 1,478 cusecs and has a depleting storage of 54 feet as against its full reservoir level of 120 feet on Tuesday.

The discharge from the dam is 6,000 cusecs, which is inadequate to meet the requirements of water for irrigation in the delta region.

Water level in the dam began to go down after water was released on June 12 for kuruvai cultivation and due to poor realisation from Karnataka.