Mettur dam filling up fast, thanks to heavy rains in catchment areas in Karnataka

Chennai: Rain gods might have averted a confrontation that was brewing between Tamil Nadu and Karnataka over sharing of water from River Cauvery. Extremely heavy rains in the river’s catchment areas in Karnataka led to a sudden and significant jump in water storage at the Stanley Reservoir in Mettur in Tamil Nadu, which received over 31 tmcft of water from the neighbouring state in just about a week.

The storage which stood at 17.830 tmcft on July 18 rose to 49.121 tmcft at 8 am on July 24. The water level in the 90-year-old reservoir constructed by the then British regime also witnessed a sharp increase to 86.850 feet on Wednesday as against the full reservoir level (FRL) of 120 feet from 47.780 feet on July 18.

Only on July 16, the Tamil Nadu government convened an all-party meeting to condemn Karnataka for not releasing 12 tmcft of water every day from July 12 to July 31 as per the directions of the Cauvery Water Regulatory Committee (CWRC) and resolved to move the Supreme Court if the need arose.

However, heavy rainfall in Kodagu, from where river Cauvery originates, and in catchment areas led to record storage in reservoirs like Kabini, and Krishnarajasagar from where excess water was released. From July 18 to July 24, the water realisation at Biligundlu, the entry point of Cauvery water into Tamil Nadu from Karnataka, is estimated to be 31 tmcft.

Sharing of Cauvery water has been an issue between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu for over years now despite the Supreme Court delivering its judgment on the long-drawn dispute. For four years from 2018 to 2022, the heavy rains and steady inflow of water into Mettur dam helped the states to settle the matter. However, In 2023, the confrontations began and it reached the Supreme Court yet again.

With rains in the catchment areas receding, the inflow in Biligundlu decreased to 45,000 cusecs on Wednesday. However, independent weather blogger K Srikanth said the storage is expected to hit 75 tmcft by the end of July with widespread heavy rains likely for the next couple of days.

“Mettur storage has touched just short of 50 TMC today morning. The next couple of days may see reduced inflow as Karnataka has opted to stock up to the brim across its Cauvery basin dams,” Srikanth said.

The water level crossing 90 feet at the Mettur dam has brought smiles on the faces of farmers in the Cauvery delta region who are waiting for the past few weeks for the sluices of the reservoir to be opened. Water from the dam for cultivation of kuruvai (short-term crop) is generally opened on June 12, but it wasn’t this year due to non-availability of adequate amounts of water.

Farmers’ welfare organisations in the region expressed the hope that the dam will be opened once it reaches 90 feet. “We hope to get Cauvery water at least in the first week of August so that we can save some kuruvai and start preparing for samba (long-term crop). We believe the government will consider releasing water once the water level breaches ” a farmers’ association leader told DH.