Hopes rise along with storage in Mettur dam

The storage in the dam increased from 45.71 feet on Wednesday to 48.77 feet on Thursday. Its full capacity is 120 feet.

“The inflow, which was 15,217 cusecs on Wednesday, increased to 21,947 cusecs on Thursday morning. If rains continued at the same level in the dam region and catchment areas, then the level may cross the 50-foot mark on Thursday night. The last time, when the storage hit 50 feet was on October 26 last year,” said a PWD official.

With the dam having a little more than 18 per cent of its total capacity, around 700 cusecs was being discharged on Thursday for drinking water needs.

Officials , however, are sceptical if the rains will continue at the same level. “There was very less or no rain in the local catchment areas on Thursday. This may result in a sharp dip in the inflow on Friday,” another official said.

Meanwhile, sources at Hogenakkal said the inflow that was around 15,500 cusecs on Wednesday, dropped to 13,000 cusecs on Thursday morning and further to around 10,000 cusecs by afternoon.

On the other hand, the discharge from Krishnaraja Sagar Dam (KRS) and Kabini dams in Karnataka —was reduced from 10,000 cusecs to 6,000 cusecs on Tuesday. “Only 4,000 cusecs was being released from KRS and 2,000 cusecs from Kabini. This will also lead to a drop in the inflow into Mettur dam in the next few days,” the official said.

He added that Mettur dam usually gets a significant quantum from Karnataka during the south west monsoon, which will be active till September 30.

“Post monsoon period there will be a lull in the inflow and we will have to wait till the onset of the north east monsoon, which will feed the dam to a great extent.

But chances of the second monsoon spell filling the dam has mostly been a rarity,” the official added.