TIRUCHY: While water discharge from Mettur reservoir is expected to be closed on Thursday after the 45-day period ends, the Delta region received widespread moderate rainfall, particularly in districts like Nagapattinam, Mayiladuthurai and Tiruvarur on Wednesday.
The northeast monsoon appears to have arrived in time as the farmers were in a dilemma with storage levels in Mettur going below 60ft. The rains on Wednesday have come to the rescue of farmers in the districts where samba has been cultivated mainly using water from bore wells.
Water from Mettur was released on September 1 by the Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay for Delta irrigation with the available storage of water on condition for a period of 45 days.
As the 45-day period ends on Thursday, the water level in Mettur stood at 59 feet on Wednesday evening, with the storage of just 24.046 TMC, and the inflow was just 696 cusecs while the outflow was 12,003 cusecs.
Since the Mettur level has almost reached the death level of storage and the period is complete, it is advisable to close the reservoir. The farmers complained that the 45-day release of water failed to reach many branch rivers and failed to reach the tail-end regions, and so the already cultivated samba crops have started withering.
Against this scenario, the IMD predicted the northeast monsoon from October 15, which would benefit water sources in the Delta region.
As per the prediction, the districts like Mayiladuthurai, Nagapattinam and Tiruvarur received widespread rainfall from Wednesday morning.
According to the meteorological department data, Mayiladuthurai received an average rainfall of 40.77 mm from 8.30 am to 6.30 pm, with Tharangambadi receiving the maximum rainfall of 89.40 mm.
Sirkazhi received 62.20 mm, and Sembanarkoil received 60.60 mm rainfall, while the average rainfall for Nagapattinam was 40 mm, with Kodiyakarai receiving the maximum rainfall of 50.40 mm, Thirupoondi 36 mm and Thalainayar 16.70 mm.
Similarly, Tiruvarur district received moderate rainfall with an average of 9.58 mm, with the maximum rainfall in Nannilam at 24 mm while Tiruthuraipoondi received 15.60 mm rainfall till Wednesday evening.
Meanwhile, the farmers from the region said that the poor water storage in the region resulted in the withering away of sprouted crops, and they expect the rainfall to continue for a few more days as per the IMD prediction so that the groundwater level might be recharged and it would be beneficial to save the standing samba to some extent.