Tamil Nadu water crisis may extend till Deepavali

Chennai: The water shortage scenario in Tamil Nadu due to the 130-year-old drought may prolong up to Deepavali this year, warned water administrators in the state.

Public works department officials, who are monitoring the inflow of water into Tamil Nadu reservoirs, are upset with the paltry or no release of water by neighboring Karnataka, Kerala and Andhra.

“Southwest monsoon so far has been weak with neighbouring states now filling their reservoirs and as usual Tamil Nadu and Puduchery being riparian states will continue to be affected,”said an informed state official. The only respite is that drinking water should not be a problem for western and southern Tamil Nadu as there are inflow in reservoirs in Coimbatore, Salem and Tirunelveli, but if rains continue to disappoint north Tamil Nadu, Chennai will suffer for two more months, the official said.

The respite is that after several months Hogenakkal has started receiving above 5,000 cusecs of water since Wednesday taking Mettur storage to 7 tmc feet.
And only if this inflow doubles, the sluices of Mettur may be opened early August for irrigation and also to fill Veeranam, the official said adding that at present 500 cusecs of water is released for integrated drinking water schemes.

According to PWD sources, the overall storage capacity of dams in Tamil Nadu should be somewhere between 30 and 40% during this time, but the total storage is somewhere between 15 and 20% and the rains have not picked up pace along the ghat areas of Tamil Nadu located close to Kerala and Karnataka.