For the first time since all its four shutters were opened on Thursday morning, water level at the Idamalayar dam dropped below the full reservoir limit (FRL) of 169 metres, enabling the Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) to close three shutters, thus reducing water discharge through the spillway to 100 cubic metres per second (cumecs).
The water level at the dam stood at 168.97 metres on Saturday at 5 p.m. Of the four shutters, only the second has been kept open by one metre, while the first, third and fourth shutters have been closed, bringing down the spillway discharge by 100 cumecs.
Power generation
This was in addition to the diversion of 65.66 cumecs of water to the power house for power generation, taking the total discharge from the dam to 165.66 cumecs. However, the inflow rose marginally to 246.22 cumecs by evening. The water level at Bhoothathankettu barrage, through which water released from the Idamalayar dam flows downstream of Periyar, also dropped considerably on Saturday.
Even on Friday, the Idamalayar dam presented the only silver line when things turned alarming at the Cheruthoni dam, forcing the KSEB authorities to open all its five shutters.
Water discharge through the spillway from the Idamalayar dam was progressively brought down from 500 cumecs to 400 cumecs on Friday morning, with the water level in the reservoir and FRL also getting narrowing down. The water level was at 169.05 metres at 11 p.m on Friday when all the four shutters remained open by one metre each, discharging water at the rate of 400 cumecs through the spillway and 66 cumecs for power generation even as the inflow trickled down to 386 cumecs. Things further improved, leading to the closure of three shutters by Saturday morning, reducing water discharge further.