Outflow from reservoirs rises as rain pounds Cauvery catchment area

Mysuru Karnataka 08/08/2020: The outflow from the KRS has been increased and the Cauvery was seen in full flow at Srirangapatana on Saturday Photo: M.A.SRIRAM (Source: THE HINDU)

Torrential rain in the catchment areas of Cauvery and Kabini rivers has increased the volume of inflow into major reservoirs in the region since the last one week. This has also led to high rate of outflow, which is inundating the downstream regions of major dams in the Cauvery basin.

According to the Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre (KSNDMC), the cumulative discharge from Kabini and KRS from June 1 till August 8 is 39 tmcft and this is almost equal to the June and July quota of Karnataka’s obligation to lower riparian State of Tamil Nadu.

But out of this, 16 tmcft of water has been released from Kabini reservoir alone between August 4 and 8 and this is set to increase further due to extreme weather conditions in Wayanad region of Kerala, which is the catchment area for Kabini.

The inflow into the reservoir was at the rate of 64,449 cusecs and the outflow was 70,600 cusecs on Saturday. An outflow of nearly 11,500 cusecs for 24 hours equals 1 tmcft. The water level was 2,277.9 feet against the full reservoir level of 2,284 feet.

The cumulative outflow from the Krishnaraja Sagar (KRS) was 14 tmcft from June 1 to August 8. But this will increase significantly during the next 48 hours as the KRS is nearing the full reservoir level and there is no let up in rains in the catchment area of the Cauvery.

The inflow to the dam as measured at 11.30 a.m. on Saturday was at the rate of 77,848 cusecs and the outflow was pegged at 74,642 cusecs. The water level at KRS was 117.4 feet against the FRL of 124.8 feet, as per KSNDMC. The gross capacity of the KRS is 49.45 tmcft against which the available quantum of water as on Saturday is 40.56 tmcft.

In view of the active monsoon in Kodagu and Chikkamagaluru, as there will be discharge from both Harangi and Hemavati, which feeds the KRS, authorities not only expect the dam to attain its FRL within the next two to three days.

Vehicular traffic on the busy Mysuru-Nanjangud road was disrupted on Saturday after water from Kabini river overflowed onto the highway near Mallanamoole Mutt.