Tamil Nadu's Mettur Dam touches full level of 120 feet

Mettur (Tamil Nadu), Dec 7 (ANI): The Mettur Dam or Stanley Reservoir, which is located in Tamil Nadu touched the Full Reservoir Level (FRL) of 120 feet on Tuesday.

The officials here speaking about the replenished reservoir said the water inflow is enough for this year and it will help meeting up any scarcity in the coming year.

"As on today, the available water is enough for this year and expected to meet up the water scarcity of 2011," said Chandrasekaran, Executive Engineer, Mettur Dam, Public Works Department (PWD), Salem, Tamil Nadu.

People from the adjacent regions gathered in large numbers here to see the unexpected water level in the dam.

"I came from Coimbatore. I am very happy to see the over-flowing water (in the dam). This is the first time I am seeing (a dam). We came only to visit the dam," said Gayathiri, who had come all the way from Coimbatore to see the replenished reservoir along with her friend.

The dam provides irrigation facilities to a part of Salem, the length of Erode, Namakkal, Karur, Tiruchirappali and Thanjavur district for 271,000 acres (1,100 km2) of farmland.

It is the 37th time in the reservoir's 76-year history that it has touched the full reservoir level (FRL) of 120 feet. It had touched the FRL earlier on July 20, 2007.

The Mettur Dam is an old multipurpose project of Tamil Nadu across the Cauvery river. It irrigates 1,310 square kilometres each year. Its installed capacity for hydropower generation is 32 MW.

The maximum level of the dam is 120 feet and the maximum capacity is 93.4 thousand million cubic feet. (ANI)