Mettur dam drying up; flow to Delta crop hit
The water level in the dam stood at 31.72 feet as against its full capacity of 120 feet and realised a low inflow of 139 cusecs.
Soil exposed due to poor storage in Stanley reservoir
COIMBATORE: Water quantum from Mettur dam for Delta irrigation was reduced to a meager 2,000 cusecs on Sunday noon as the storage level in the reservoir depleted to drastic levels.
As on Sunday 8 am, the water level in the dam stood at 31.72 feet as against its full capacity of 120 feet and realised a low inflow of 139 cusecs. Water storage position in the dam began to dip fast as inflow remained lower than discharge ever since water was released for Delta irrigation from June 12.
From a discharge of over 6,000 cusecs until last month, the release dropped to around 3,000 cusecs on Friday and 2,300 cusecs on Sunday morning and further down to 2,000 cusecs by 12 noon. Amidst reports that water release is likely to be stopped, the officials of Public Works Department (PWD) denied having taken any such decision.
“Increase in discharge of water will be based on the requirement of farmers in the Delta region. No decision has been taken on stopping water release even though the storage position has gone down drastically,” said an official.
The dam’s storage looks no better at a time when farmers in Delta region are desperately hoping for an increase in release of water to save their dying crops. Water level also came down gradually in the dam from 32.84 cusecs on Friday, to 32.25 cusecs on Saturday and 31.720 feet on Sunday.
