Mettur dam storage continues to be above danger mark

Tiruchirapalli, Aug 11 (UNI) The water storage in Stanley Reservoir at Mettur across river Cauvery is still in a ''precarious position'' as the dam level stood at 122.49 ft, above its Full Reservoir Level (FRL) of 120 ft.

Water could be stored up to 124 ft in the dam as a temporary measure.

The 74-year-old reservoir had attained the FRL twice this year, following heavy discharge of surplus water from major reservoirs in upstream Karnataka, hit by heavy rains.

Despite heavy release from the reservoir for the past two days, the dam's water level still remained above the danger mark, causing anxiety to the residents of eleven delta districts, through which the river Cauvery traverses.

State Public Works Department (PWD) sources at the dam told UNI over phone that they were keeping round-the-clock vigil and constantly monitoring the inflow and outflow system of the dam.

However, they maintain that there was no need of panic, as even if they got more surplus water from Karnataka, it could be diverted to the sea through river Coleroon.

The sources recalled that during the 2005 flood havoc when river Cauvery was in spate, over two lakh cusecs of water was let out into river Coleroon alone.

The inflow into the reservoir was 96,098 cusecs and the total discharge was 95,449 cusecs. From Upper Anaicut (Dam) across river Cauvery near Tiruchirapalli, over 64,645 cusecs of surplus water was let out into river Coleroon. From Grand Anaicut in Thanjavur district, about 9,036 cusecs of water was discharged into river Cauvery, 8,502 cusecs into Vennar and 3,514 cusecs into Grand Anaicut Canal for irrigation purposes, they added.

UNI