Reservoirs almost dry in Tamil Nadu

Chennai: Tamil Nadu should be preparing itself for a tough water year if the remainder of southwest monsoon season also continues to be disappointing.  The Central Water Commission’s latest report on reservoir storage paints a grim irrigation season scenario in the state.

According to the CWC report released on June 26, TN reservoirs have suffered a minus (-) 64  per cent departure from the normal storage, highest among the four southern states. Of the 30 reservoirs in the south (Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and TN put together), water capacity in 27 reservoirs is below 40 per cent, which points to the failure of southwest monsoon thus far.

In its basin-wise storage assessment, the CWC report has classified Cauvery and neighhouring areas as ‘deficient’. The total live storage of 85 important reservoirs of the country (as on June 26) was only 38.022 bcm (billion cubic meter), which is 25 per cent of the storage capacity at FRL (full reservoir level).

In the week ending July 3, the current live storage of the six major reservoirs (lower Bhavani, Mettur, Vaigai, Parambikulam, Aliyar and Sholayar) is only 0.675 bcm, against the 4.229 bcm live capacity at FRL. Stanley reservoir (Mettur dam), the main source of irrigation for delta districts, has only 16.24 tmcft (thousand million cubic feet), against full reservoir capacity of 93.47 feet.  

If the failure to release water on scheduled June 12 had initially worried the delta farmers, it appears now the time has come for them to chalk out alternative plans as water release from Mettur appears improbable in the immediate future.

Even on Friday, Stanley reservoir’s inflow stood only at 2,903 feet, which is pretty low compared to the bountiful inflow it recorded in the past. The water position and rainfall in the catchments of other major irrigation reservoirs like Periyar, Aliyar, Vaigai, Papanasam, Sholayar, Parambikulam is also not encouraging.