For the first time in two years, the Stanley Reservoir in Mettur is expected to reach its Full Reservoir Level (FRL) of 120 feet by Tuesday with huge amounts of water being released from dams in Karnataka owing to heavy rains in the catchment areas of River Cauvery.
The water level in the reservoir stood at 118.32 feet at 8 pm on Monday against the FRL of 120 feet, while the storage rose to 90.816 tmcft. 150 cusecs of water were being released into the canal, while 100 cusecs of water are being released into the river.
The inflow into the 87-year-old reservoir built during the British regime stood at 26,245 cusecs at 8 pm on Monday with the inflow from dams in Karnataka to Biligundlu, the entry point for River Cauvery in Tamil Nadu, standing at 28,000 cusecs.
If the inflow from Biligundlu remains the same, the Mettur Dam will achieve its FRL by Tuesday evening. As the reservoir is set to achieve its FRL, Salem District Collector S Karmegam visited Mettur and asked people living on the banks of the river and in low-lying areas to move to safety.
He said the outflow from Kabini and Krishnaraja Sagar reservoirs in Karnataka, which have attained FRL, is the reason for the heavy inflow of water to Tamil Nadu. This will be the first time the Mettur dam will achieve its FRL in two years – the dam achieved FRL four times in 2019 due to heavy rains in catchment areas of River Cauvery in Karnataka.
As a precautionary measure, the Tamil Nadu government asked administrations in 11 districts — Salem, Erode, Namakkal, Karur, Tiruchirappalli, Ariyalur, Pudukkottai, Thanjavur, Thiruvarur, Nagapattinam and Perambalur — to be on high alert. The collectors have been asked to take steps to evacuate people living in low-lying areas and ensure that people don’t step into the river.
The government said 5,000 cusecs of water will be released from the Mettur dam on Tuesday morning, and the outflow will be increased based on the inflow.
Mettur dam is the lifeline of lakhs of farmers in the Cauvery Delta region in Tamil Nadu who depend on water from the reservoir for the cultivation of crops. Meanwhile, the Tiruchirappalli district administration released 10,000 cusecs of water from the Cauvery River into the Kollidam river from Upper Anaicut.
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