Mettur dam unlikely to open shutters on June 12 

It may be yet another year of disappointment for farmers in the delta districts in the State as water may not be discharged from the Stanley Reservoir in Mettur on the customary date of June 12 this year too.

With hardly two days to go, the water storage level in the reservoir continues to linger below the 50-feet-mark.

“As on date, the dam holds a meagre 15 tmc (thousand million cubic feet) of water against its full capacity of 93.47 tmc. The sluices of the dam cannot be opened unless the storage reaches above 40 tmc. For that, it may take up to a month,” a senior Public Works Department (PWD) official, when contacted, said.

Though inflow into the dam has risen significantly following heavy rains in the catchment area over the last two days, it may still not be insufficient to take the storage to comfortable levels. Also, the water released for drinking needs is more than the inflow.

“Inflow into the dam which stood at 791 cusecs on Saturday has surged to 919 cusecs on Sunday. It remained a meagre 200 cusecs two days ago. However, the release of water from the dam for drinking water requirements is 1000 cusecs,” said the official.

The storage has hence come down marginally from 47.17 feet on May 28 to 45.66 feet on Sunday. The dam was last opened on the exact date on June 12 in 2011. Thereafter, over the last eight consecutive years, the dam missed its customary date over poor storage level. Last year, the dam was opened on July 19, after delay by over a month.

Water was usually released from the dam for delta irrigation for 230 days from June 12 to January 28 to raise crops on around 16 lakh acres in the Cauvery river basin.

The Cauvery Water Management Authority’s recent order to Karnataka to release water to Tamil Nadu gave a glimmer of hope to lakhs of farmers, but PWD officials are unsure when the water would be released by the neighbouring State.

“We are yet to hear anything on the release of water from Karnataka. However, storage in the dam may improve once the skies start to pour out during this southwest monsoon,” the official said.

As per the order of the Supreme Court, Karnataka should release 9.19 tmc of water to Tamil Nadu in June.  

The dam, which reached its full reservoir level in 2018 following heavy rains during southwest monsoon, serves as a major drinking water source and irrigation purposes of delta districts.