CHENNAI: If the current flow into the Mettur dam continues, delta district farmers will reap good kuruvai and samba crop after four years of drought.

According to reports received here, catchments of the Cauvery basin reservoirs in Karnataka have been experiencing torrential rain, resulting in copious inflows. The Kabini reservoir has reached its capacity. The other major reservoir, Krishnaraja Sagar, is inching towards the brim.

The KRS, the main source of supply to the Mettur dam, on Tuesday received 29,824 cusecs. The discharge was 400 cusecs. The storage was 30.581 tmcft as against the capacity of 49.45 tmcft.

Heavy release

The Kabini reservoir received 33,007 cusecs, due to heavy rain in Wayanad district of Kerala. With storage reaching 17.282 tmcft as against the dam's capacity of 19.516 tmcft, authorities were releasing more than the inflow (34,679 cusecs). The entire release from the Kabini will reach the Mettur dam during the course of the week. On Tuesday, it received 20,000 cusecs as against the outflow of 13,000 cusecs. The storage was 71 tmcft as against its capacity of 93.4 tmcft.

Officials here said the release from the Mettur dam would be scaled down in a day or two, as about 7,000 cusecs was being released from the lower Bhavani Reservoir in the river. As the storage in the Bhavani reservoir reached 29 tmcft against its capacity of 32.8 tmcft, more water was being released to ensure the dam's safety.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail