Tamil Nadu: Water from Mettur dam to be released on Tuesday

A lifeline to farmers in delta region, water released from the Mettur reservoir helps them to irrigate the long term crop of 'samba'.

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Following substantial inflow into the Mettur Dam, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami on Monday announced that the government would open the sluice gates of the dam in Salem district on Tuesday.

The release of water from Mettur will fill up approximately 700 ponds and tanks in the Cauvery delta region. A lifeline to farmers in the delta region, water released from the Mettur reservoir helps them to irrigate the long term crop of 'samba'.

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In a statement, the chief minister advised the farmers to ensure water management through canals and check dams.

"The intensive southwest monsoon in Cauvery basin has resulted in increased storage level in Mettur reservoir. Anticipating the inflows from Karnataka reservoirs and requests from farming community, I ordered release of water from Mettur for paddy cultivation in the Cauvery delta on August 13," the statement said.

As the catchment areas in Karnataka are experiencing good rains, the inflow into the Cauvery has been steadily increasing in the past couple of days. On Monday, the inflow was recorded at 2.4 lakh cusecs.

The storage level in the Mettur dam stood at 90 feet as against its full capacity of 120 feet and the capacity stood at 62 tmcft. The inflow is expected to increase for the next couple of days as water is released from Kabini in Karnataka.

In wake of the heavy inflow into the Cauvery river, people living in the low-lying areas of Hogenakkal have been forced to move to safer places. A team of officials from the Public Works Department and revenue department are monitoring the situation around the dam site round the clock.

As per irrigation calendar, the release of water from the Mettur dam will be done for 230 days for raising paddy on 16 lakh acres in the Cauvery basin.