With the water level at the Stanley Reservoir in Mettur Dam nearing 118 feet and the inflow at over 27,000 cusecs on Monday morning, Salem District Collector S. Karmegam has said that the dam is expected to reach its Full Reservoir Level (FRL) of 120 feet by Tuesday night after which discharge would be stepped up.
At 8 a.m., the water level stood at 117.61 feet while the storage was 89.71 thousand million cubic feet (tmc) against the capacity of 93.47 tmc. The inflow stood at 27,600 cusecs and the discharge at 350 cusecs into the canal, and 100 cusecs into the River Cauvery.
Addressing the media after inspecting the dam, Mr. Karmegam said that both Krishnaraja Sagar (KRS) (124.80 feet) and Kabini reservoir (65 feet) in Karnataka had attained their maximum level and the total discharge stood at 9,883 cusecs. Water realisation at Biligundulu is 28,000 cusecs while water flow in Palar is 4,000 cusecs. “If the present inflow continues, the dam could reach its FRL on Tuesday evening or night”, he said.
The Collector urged people living on the banks of River Cauvery and low-lying areas to move to safer locations.
Mr. Karmegam said that engineers at the dam are monitoring the situation round-the-clock and 12 district collectors in the delta region are alerted once in four hours. “Since rain is continuing and the inflow is increasing, initial discharge could be 30,000 cusecs”, he said and added that based on the inflow, discharge would be decided.
