Five days after reaching Parthibanur regulator — district entry point — water released from Vaigai dam reached Big Tank on Thursday.
Collector K. Veera Raghava Rao had received the water at the regulator on September 16.
As expected, the water flowed into the Big Tank on the fifth day, traversing a distance of about 50 km. Thanks to a wet spell in Paramakudi area, the flow was faster, officials said.
The State government had ordered release of 909 mcft of water to the district from its Vaigai credit from September 14 to 19. Although the release was stopped on Wednesday, the Big Tank would continue to receive supply for another seven days as the water was traversing a distance of 177 km from Vaigai dam, S. Venkitakrishnan, Executive Engineer, Public Works department (lower Vaigai division, Paramakudi), said.
Patrolling teams constituted by the Collector kept close vigil against illegal taping of water. The water level in the Big Tank was expected to reach a level of 90 cm to 1.2 metres against the tank’s capacity of 2.1 metres. And like in December last, they proposed to fill 70 odd ‘ooranies’ (water bodies) in and around the municipality area. A decision would be taken after receiving the entire quantum of water in the tank, he added.
Officials said the supply channels, which were cleaned up in December last, were intact and the ooranies could be filled without much difficulty.
The water was released mainly for wetting the Vaigai and facilitating ground water recharge, which would help to address the drinking water problem in Paramakudi, Bogalur, Nainarkoil and Ramanathapuram blocks.