The chance of releasing water from Mettur Dam brightened with the water level continuing to rise to reach 88.29 ft on Thursday evening against its full level of 120 ft.
The water level has risen by 3.78 ft in 24 hours – from 84.51 ft on Wednesday to 88.29 ft on Thursday.
The realisation of water in River Cauvery at Mettur crossed a whopping 47,000 cusecs mark on Thursday evening.
The inflow of water was 14,784 cusecs on Tuesday, 21,648 cusecs on Wednesday, and it rose to 33,569 cusecs at 8 a.m. on Thursday. Later, it further rose to 47,235 cusecs in the evening much to the relief of both the Public Works Department (PWD) officials, and farmers.
This is the first time in the last four years that inflow of water crossed 40,000 cusecs mark. The last time more than 40,000 cusecs of water was realised in River Cauvery in Mettur Dam was in October 2013, according to PWD sources. It had crossed the 30,000 cusecs mark in 2014, the sources said.
About 1,000 cusecs of water is being released from the dam for meeting the drinking water needs in delta districts, according to PWD sources.
Though it is customary to release water on June 12 every year for the samba season, it was postponed this year too owing to poor water level.
Last year, water was released from Mettur Dam for commencing Samba crop season in the 12 delta districts on September 20, after a delay of more than three months, when the dam had 87.68 ft of water. It was the fourth time in the last three decades that water was being released when the level was below 90 ft after 2012 (when water level was 84.15 ft), 2003 (72.52 ft), and 1996 (52.13 ft).