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Pondy lakes record copious inflow

Staff Reporter

Excess water is diverted to canals and discharged into rivers Pannayar river, the major source for Bahour lake, is in spate and the inflow continues

SURPLUS WATER: Water from Osuteri lake being discharged into the Sankarabarani river. — Photo: T. Singaravelou

PONDICHERRY: Even though there was no heavy rain in Pondicherry on Saturday, the inflow into the two major lakes — Ousteri and Bhaour — still continues and the excess water is now diverted at several points to canals and discharged into the source rivers and sea.

Surplus water from Ousteri, which has a storage capacity of 540 million cubic feet, is discharged back to Sankarabarani river at Pathukannu and Suthukeni. The inflow from Sanakarabarani river into Ousteri still continues following heavy rain in catchment areas of Tamil Nadu.

Where as, the excess water from the second biggest lake Bahour, which has a storage capacity of 200 million cubic feet, is discharged from Sitheri into the sea and to several other minor canals. The major source for Bahour lake is the Pannayar river that is still in spate and the inflow continues, said a PWD official.

82 tanks filled up

The recent rain in Pondicherry and the discharge from reservoirs in Tamil Nadu has filled all the 82 irrigation tanks.

The PWD officials said even if the inflow into these lakes continues for next several days it would not cause flooding of the adjacent areas because there is a `full proof mechanism for discharging the excess water and also controlling inflow from the Sanakaraparani and Pannayar river'.

The lakes, which have a combined storage capacity of 45 million cubic meters, are used to irrigate around 5,800 hectares of farmland in Pondicherry region.

Besides the irrigation purpose, these lakes help recharge the groundwater level, which had depleted over the last few years in Bahour and Villianur regions. Officials in the PWD hoped that the groundwater level would increase by 10 to 20 per cent. "It would definitely help recharge the ground water level to a good extent.

Since we depend on groundwater for drinking the filling up of lakes is a good sign", said Radhakrishnan, chief Hydrologist

The Hydrological department conducted a study after the first spell of monsoon during the first week of November and found that there was 2 to 3 per cent increase in the groundwater level in Villianur and Mannadipet Communes.

"Because of the presence of limestone in these two areas the percolation is slow and by this time the ground water level would have increased further", he said.

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