Storage at the Mettur dam, the lifeline of the Cauvery delta in Tamil Nadu, has witnessed a net depletion of nearly six thousand million cubic feet after the commencement of water release for irrigation a week ago, on June 12, 2023.
On Monday, the dam’s water level stood at 98.98 feet (full level: 120 ft) with the storage being 63.526 thousand million cubic feet (TMC) against the capacity of 93.47 TMC. On June 12 when Chief Minister M.K. Stalin formally launched the water release for the current year, the figures of water level and storage were 103.35 ft and 69.252 TMC. Around 10,000 cubic feet per second (cusecs) of water was being discharged through the Cauvery river and 1,100 cusecs through the canal, while the inflow was a mere 454 cusecs.
According to the data available with the Central Water Commission up to June 15, Tamil Nadu realised, during the first half of this month, around 1.7 TMC of the Cauvery water at Biligundulu on the border of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. This was about 2.9 TMC short of the stipulated quantity of around 4.6 TMC for the first 15 days of the month.
The delayed onset of the southwest monsoon and the subsequent poor rainfall or absence of rainfall over the Cauvery catchment in Kerala and Karnataka are said to be the factors that have contributed to the shortfall in the realisation of Tamil Nadu. At the latest meeting of the Cauvery Water Management Authority in New Delhi on Friday last, officials of the Meteorological Department informed the Authority that the Cauvery catchment was likely to witness more rainfall in the coming weeks, according to one of the participants of the event.
Meanwhile, the AIADMK’s former coordinator, O. Panneerselvam, in a statement, called upon the DMK regime to exert pressure on the Congress government in Karnataka to see to it that the remaining quota for June, 7.4 TMC. be released in view of the ruling parties in the two States being allies.
