TIRUCHY: With Mettur storage standing at over 77 TMC, agricultural experts have suggested making the maximum use of groundwater wherever possible, as at least 40 TMC should be reserved to compensate for the required quantum of around 50 TMC of water for Samba target realisation by January.
According to a groundwater survey of the Water Resource department (WRD), reserves found in the Delta districts of Mayiladuthurai, Nagapattinam, Perambalur, Tiruvarur and Tiruchy in November were augmented compared to the previous year. The groundwater recharge was between 10 per cent and 40 per cent.
As the Delta region had witnessed moderate to heavy rains from October to November, the groundwater table had grown to a remarkable level.
"The on-time monsoon rains and the prompt release of water from Mettur had supported the recharge of groundwater, and so the farmers need not worry," said a senior WRD official.
Meanwhile, the agriculture senior technocrat P Kalaivanan said that the early Samba harvest would begin from the second week of January; hence, from December last week to January 15, at least 15,000 cusecs of water should be released per day, totalling around 35 TMC from January 16 to January 31, the release should be reduced to 10,000 cusecs.
"As the groundwater level has increased this year, the farmers can maximise utilising the borewells wherever possible, which could compensate for the water requirement for the entire samba season," Kalaivanan said.
Kalaivanan also said that the IMD had predicted a good spell of rain after January, which would enormously support samba. At the same time, Thanjavur, Tiruvarur, Mayiladuthurai, Nagapattinam and Pudukkottai received more rain during this Northeast monsoon from October to November, which has also helped samba cultivation.
Swamimalai Sundara Vimalnathan, secretary, Cauvery Farmers Protection Association, urged the State government to initiate steps to get the due share of water from Karnataka. He alleged that Karnataka has already stored water in its waterbodies for its use and appealed the government to establish a central committee to look into the storage of water in all the water bodies in Karnataka.
"Usually, the monitoring committee take into account only the water stored in reservoirs, but Karnataka had stored water in the water bodies adjacent to the reservoirs after undertaking development of water bodies to several hundred TMCs of water," Vimalnathan stressed.
