Madhuranthagam lake nearly full

A few days after, the excess water was released to Killiyar, which drained into the sea. On Friday, after the recent spell of rains, the lake crossed the 24.1 feet mark and the overflowing water was diverted to Killiyar again. As on Friday night, the inflow was at 9,800 cubic feet and the water was released at the rate of 8,500 cubic ft. The storage was kept at 720 million cubic ft.

However, the lake could have saved more water, had it been desilted periodically, say villagers, “The lake was last desilted in 1969, after which the works were done in parts of the lake before being abandoned completely. Though the actual depth of the lake is 21.3 ft, at least nine feet of it is just sediments. Currently, 30,000 acres of farmlands benefit from Madhuranthagam and had it been desilted periodically, it would be able to cater to water needs of at least 1 lakh acres. The same amount of water is wasted into the sea. It is just a repeat of 2015,” say upset villagers.

When contacted, Madhuranthagam’s Public Words Department (PWD) Assistant Engineer Gujaraj, admitted that the lake was not desilted in the last 30 years. However, he blamed it on the practical difficulties involved. “If all the sediments are to be removed, it will be equal to 6.5 lakh loads. We don’t have space to dump so much silt. There are restrictions to distribute the silt to farmers. So, we are working on other ways to increase the lake’s capacity.

Since 1985, the height of the bund has been increased by 2 ft, making the depth 23.3 from 21.3 ft. Also, we have diverted the excess water to five nearby small lakes - Arungunam, Valavam, Thanur, Kanaar and Ariyapakkam - which were desilted recently.

Currently, there is a plan to desilt Madhuranthagam lake, but it will be worked out soon,” he added.