Mettur dam release for delta reduced

With heavy rains in delta districts, the release from Mettur dam in Salem district for irrigation has seen a considerable reduction, with the outflow reduced to 2000 cusecs on Wednesday.

The outflow, which remained at 3,500 cusecs on Saturday, was gradually increased to 12,000 cusecs on Monday for irrigation purposes in the delta region. Earlier, the discharge from the dam was maintained low as water requirements for delta irrigation was met by the rains.

The lashing rains since Tuesday night again brought down the water requirements for irrigation. At 8.30 am on Wednesday, the PWD officials reduced the outflow from the dam to 2000 cusecs.

As the inflow into the dam is higher than the outflow, officials hope that the dam may fill up once again in the coming days before the end of this year. The dam registered an inflow of 3,881 cusecs and had a storage capacity of 118.790 feet at 8 am on Wednesday.