After rains, water flows into Mettur, falls at Hogenakkal

The 120 feet tall Mettur dam was fast depleting over the last six months and it dropped to an abysmal low of 19 feet on Thursday. However, on Monday morning it climbed to 22.52 feet. “The inflow, which was 50 cusecs till last week shot up to 3,000 cusecs and to 4,000 cusecs over the last two days,” said PWD officials at the dam site. On Monday, the inflow was 3,012 cusecs, a 25 per cent drop from 4,169 cusecs on Sunday. 

“This three and a half feet increase in the dam level has given us hope that we can manage the drinking water supply needs from the dam for the rest of the summer,” added the officials. 

The inflow also gave some reason to smile for the coracle riders, fishermen, cooks, lodges and the massage men at Hogennakkal as they were able to witness some tourists at the fag end of the summer season. 

They were almost out of business for the past several months, as there was no water flow in the river. 

“From the weekend we have seen an increase in the inflow of tourists, facilitated by the increase in flow of water in River Cauvery. Since the state has delayed reopening of schools by a week, we hope to have good business for the next 10 days,” said president of the Coracle Riders Association M Kempuraj. Apart from coracle rides the tourists also enjoyed bathing in the waterfalls.