Bountiful monsoon fills up Cauvery dams

Bengaluru: The current torrential rains in the Cauvery catchment area is expected to fill up the dams early and break the 15-year-old trend of dams reaching its brim only by August-end.

At present Harangi and Kabini have reached its full capacity and KRS and Hemavathy will get filled in another 4-5 days, if the rains continue with the same intensity

Srinivasa Reddy, Director, Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre (KSNDMC) told Deccan Chronicle, "Monsoon is active in the state. If we look at the data of past 15 years, this year the rains are really satisfactory. In the past, Cauvery dams used to get filled only at August-end but now breaking it by getting filled in mid-July. "

Regions like Malnad, Hassan and Kodagu is receiving good amount of rainfall and increased the inflow to the Cauvery dams. Rains in Wayanad in Kerala, one of the main catchment areas of Cauvery which was not satisfactory for the past few years, is doing very well, Srinivas said.

"Inflow to Kabini stands at 40,000 cusecs, while the inflow to KRS stands at 35,000 cusecs," he added.

Going by the rain forecast for the next week, we are sure that it will continue in the Cauvery catchment area and fill the remaining KRS and Hemavathy in a matter of another five days, he said.

Unlike last year, the monsoon was active right from May and the inflow to the dams were generated early. Last year, till June, the inflow was not generated. While the level of KRS is at 115.20 feet now, last year at the same time it was 78.70 feet, Srinivas pointed out.

He went on to say that going by the hydrological conditions, there shall not be any problem in the supply of Cauvery water to Bengaluru and sharing the same with Tamil Nadu. 

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