Tamil Nadu draws water while Idukki is tensed

Kottayam: With  the water level in the Mullaperiyar dam standing at 141.85 feet (at the time of filing this report), the situation remained tense in  Idukki district on Friday.

Tamil Nadu  resumed  drawing  water from the dam from 2 am Friday morning, when its water level was at 142 feet, but it fell marginally later. 

With rain continuing in the catchment area of the dam, around 1400 cubic feet of water is flowing into it per second and  Tamil Nadu is drawing 1916 cubic feet of water per second to stop it from filling up too much.

While the catchment area had received 17.8 mm of rain till Friday morning, Thekkady had received 18 mm. Going by the  rainfall in the area, the water level is expected to rise even further in the dam.   

According to  district administration sources, Tamil Nadu had warned Kerala about the water level in the dam nearing 142 feet early Friday morning.

“Tamil Nadu is being very cautious about the water level as  the Supreme Court has ordered it should not rise beyond 142 feet.

It was  in fact waiting for the water to touch 142 feet to prove that the dam was safe even with this volume of storage," said a Kerala irrigation department officer.

The neighbouring state is reportedly using digital meters to precisely measure the water level in the dam.  

Leakage high in both the main and baby dams:
According to sources, the leaks in the main and  baby dams grew stronger after the water level rose in both.

Joyce George demands  action:
Idukki MP , Joyce George on Friday demanded the state government take immediate steps to lower the water level in the Mullaperiyar dam and introduce safety measures on the lines suggested by the disaster management authority.

Meanwhile, sources in the state disaster management authority said it would establish an automatic weather station at Thekkady in a couple of days. It  also plans to counsel students studying in  schools near the Mullaperiyar dam on ways deal with the present situation.