All the spillway shutters of the Mullaperiyar dam were closed on Saturday with a decline in the water inflow to the dam. Tamil Nadu Public Works Department officials had on Wednesday opened eight spillway shutters when the inflow increased steadily following heavy rainfall.
Spillway shutters 7 and 8 were closed on Friday evening. At 9 p.m. three shutters were lowered to 30 cm from 50 cm. At 11 p.m., the remaining three shutters too were lowered to 30 cm. On Saturday morning, three shutters were closed. At 7 a.m. two shutters were closed and shutter 3 was lowered to 20 cm. At 11 a.m., that too was closed.
The water level at 3 p.m. on Saturday was 138.50 ft. The discharge of water through tunnels to Tamil Nadu was 2,305 cusecs and inflow was 2,324 cusecs. The upper rule curve of the dam till November 10 is 139.5 ft.
In Idukki dam
Meanwhile, the water level in Idukki reservoir hovered near the red alert level on Saturday. The water level at 5 p.m. was 2,398.70 ft. As per the new rule curve for Idukki dam, the red alert level is 2,398.79 ft and upper rule level is 2,399.79 ft. Power generation at the Moolamattom plant continued to be at the maximum level of 17.44 mu on Friday. There was 94.94% of storage in the dam on Saturday.
A KSEB official said the inflow and outflow in Idukki reservoir was almost the same. On Friday, the catchment areas of the dam received heavy rainfall and the additional water from Mullaperiyar resulted in an increase of water in the reservoir by 0.28%. “Now that the Mullaperiyar dam shutters are closed, water level will be in a safe position in Idukki, if there is no heavy rainfall in the catchment area,” he said.
Anayirangal dam
The three spillway shutters of the Anayirangal dam were opened on Saturday after the water level crossed the maximum storage level of 1,207 metre. It is the storage dam for Ponmudy dam and the water was released to the Panniyar river.
