City sees ray of hope after rise in inflow into Mettur dam

Public Works Department (Water Resources Department) officials said that the reservoir has been receiving water for the last few days after catchment areas recorded heavy rainfall. The inflow touched 1,380 cusecs on Tuesday, while it slightly reduced to 931 cusecs on Wednesday evening. 

A senior engineer said that as per the Indian Meteorological Department, there is a high possibility of the South-West monsoon arriving soon and officials hope that the inflow into the reservoir will further increase. “It raises hopes among us that the volume of water that the parched reservoir has been receiving for the past couple of days will gradually increase, after which the water might be released for irrigation and drinking water purposes,” the engineer added.

M Bhakthavachalam, Engineering-in-Chief, (WRD), Chennai, told DTNext, “We cannot predict anything as of now. However, if inflow is steadily increasing and there is good rainfall in catchment areas, level in the dam will gradually go up.” When asked if water would be diverted to Vaeeranam lake if the reservoir has good storage, the engineer said, “It depends on the water level.” 

According to PWD reading, the reservoir received 931 cusecs inflow while 500 cusecs is being discharged for drinking water purpose. The current level is 20.110 feet. It may be noted that Karnataka government repeatedly refused to release water from the two reservoirs despite a Supreme Court direction.