COIMBATORE: Inflow into the Mettur dam has plunged to just 1,174 cusecs, raising concerns over the rapid depletion of the reservoir.
From 8,993 cusecs received by the dam on September 7, it fell sharply to 3,718 cusecs on September 9 and further to 2,250 cusecs on September 10 before dropping to 1,174 cusecs on Friday.
The steep decline comes at a time when 12,400 cusecs of water is being released from the dam for Cauvery Delta irrigation. With the outflow far exceeding the inflow, the reservoir’s water level has been falling rapidly.
The water level, which stood at 91.28 feet on September 9 against the dam’s full reservoir level of 120 feet, fell to 90.52 feet on Thursday and further to 89.67 feet on Friday.
The sharp fall in inflow has come days after the Cauvery Water Management Authority (CWMA) upheld the Cauvery Water Regulation Committee’s (CWRC) direction to Karnataka to release 6,000 cusecs of water daily to Tamil Nadu for 15 days.
An official at the Mettur dam said the water discharge from Karnataka had increased again and that the fresh release was expected to reach Tamil Nadu on Saturday.
“We expect the water to arrive on Saturday. But the quantum of water released from the Karnataka reservoirs would be known only after it reaches Tamil Nadu,” the official said.
The arrival of the additional water could provide some relief, but the steep decline in inflow into the Mettur reservoir has left farmers anxious about the availability of water for the delta’s samba crop.
Farmers have expressed concern that any prolonged shortfall in inflow could jeopardise samba cultivation, which is heavily dependent on timely and adequate irrigation releases from the Cauvery system.
C Nallasamy, secretary of the Tamil Nadu Federation of Farmers Associations, said farmers in the delta were already struggling to protect their standing crops despite Karnataka having completed its first crop harvest.
“Even though Karnataka has completed its first crop harvest, farmers in the delta region are struggling without adequate water to save their drying crops,” he said. He said the water already released for 45 days was insufficient to sustain samba cultivation and warned that any further deterioration in water availability could have serious consequences for farmers.