The lean inflow from the catchment areas owing to alarmingly poor rainfall has started leaving the Sabarigiri reservoirs, situated in the hilly forest tracts of Pathanamthitta, literally dry.
A large extent of the reservoir bed near the shutters of the Anathodu, flanking the dam of the Sabarigiri hydro-electric project, has already turned dry, giving hints of a horrible power situation and water scarcity in store for the State, if the monsoon continues to evade Kerala.
The Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) has cut power generation at the Moozhiyar power house of Sabarigiri, the State’s second largest hydro-electric project, following poor inflow into its Kakki-Anathodu twin reservoirs.
KSEB sources told The Hindu that the power generation at Moozhiyar was only 1.9350 million units (mu) on Tuesday. The 340-mW power house with six generators has got the capacity for a maximum of 8.1 mu a day.
Similarly, the Kakkad power house, which generates power utilising the tailrace of the Sabarigiri project, could produce only 0.4348 mu on Tuesday, sources said. The water level in the Kakki-Anathodu twin reservoirs as on Wednesday morning was 931.75 m. As per the KSEB data, the Sabarigiri reservoirs, having a full reservoir level of 981.46 m, presently have got only 9.79% storage as on Wednesday. This is against the 50.52% storage on the same day in 2018.
Water level
The Sabarigiri reservoirs with a storage capacity of 445 million cubic metres (mcm) of water has got only 44.45 mcm in them as on Wednesday morning. The rain gauge at Kakki has recorded the rainfall in the forests in the past 24 hours as ‘nil’, sources said.