Heavy rainfall in Karnataka triggers rapid water-level rise in Tamil Nadu's Mettur Dam

Chennai: Stanley Reservoir in Mettur dam, the lifeline of lakhs of farmers in Tamil Nadu’s Cauvery Delta region, is filling fast with the storage capacity already reaching half of the full reservoir level at 61 feet owing to huge inflow following heavy rains in the catchment areas in Karnataka.

The inflow at Biligundlu, the entry point of Cauvery water into Tamil Nadu from Karnataka, stood at about 67,000 cusecs at 2.30 pm on Saturday and is expected to increase to 75,000 cusecs by midnight. As a result, the scenic waterfalls in Hogenakkal in Dharmapuri district overflowed for the fourth consecutive day.

At 2.30 pm on Saturday, the storage capacity at the Stanley Reservoir stood at 61.130 feet against the Full Reservoir Capacity (FRL) of 120 feet. The inflow was 53,098 lakh cusecs per second and the outflow was 1,000 cusecs, as the water storage stood at 25.674 tmcft.

The water level and water storage at the 90-year-old dam has been witnessing a sharp increase in the fast few days due to release of huge quantities of water from Krishnaraja Sagar dam and Kabini reservoir in Karnataka, which is witnessing heavy rainfall for the past few weeks.

The huge inflow into Mettur dam is encouraging but farmers in the Delta region aren’t too optimistic of release of water from the reservoir unless the storage level hits 90 feet.

The farmers, who are dependent on Cauvery water, have been affected due to non-release of water this June for cultivation of kuruvai (short-term crop). Only those who have borewells have begun cultivation of kuruvai while others are waiting for the river water.

"Only when the water level reaches 90 feet, can we even ask for its release. Releasing water isn’t a big thing but sustaining the quantum is. So, the government will wait for the water level to rise to a certain level before opening the dam for cultivatio", 'Cauvery' S Dhanapalan, general secretary, Cauvery Farmers’ Protection Association, told DH.

Though the dam was opened on June 12, 2023, the quantum of water released from the dam -- whose inflow went to a record low after Karnataka failed to adhere to the monthly schedule of water release due to “less rains” in the Cauvery basin -- kept reducing gradually, leading to a major crisis in the Delta, Tamil Nadu’s rice bowl.

The dam, from where water is discharged usually till December, was closed on October 9, adding to the woes of the farmers. Kuruvai is cultivated in an area of 5 lakh acres of which over 3 lakh acres are entirely dependent on Cauvery while cultivation in the remaining 2 lakh acres is done using water from borewells.