Water level in the Siruvani Reservoir touched 5.75 feet after the Siruvani catchment received 202 mm rain in the 24 hours that ended 8 a.m. on Monday.
The first heavy rain of the 2020 South West Monsoon season saw the water level rise by 3.75 feet to touch 5.75 feet in the Reservoir, whose full reservoir level is 49.5 feet.
As of Sunday 8 a.m., water level stood at 2.32 feet, thanks to the 78 mm rainfall the catchment had received in the preceding 24 hours, say sources in the Tamil Nadu Water Supply and Drainage Board.
Though the water level rose over the weekend, the situation in Siruvani Reservoir has been one of concern. The water level had almost touched the dead storage level with the first of the four-month monsoon season seeing negligible rain.
The poor water level and the consequence of it in Coimbatore city has once again raised question about the Tamil Nadu Government’s efforts to ask the Kerala Government to allow water to touch the full reservoir level.
Though the full reservoir level is 49.5 feet, the Kerala Government had not allowed water to reach the level as it had brought down the water storage level by five feet to 44.5 feet following floods across the State a couple of years ago.
The loss of five feet water meant that Tamil Nadu lost 15% of its share of water from the Reservoir, assuming that the Tamil Nadu Government through the Tamil Nadu Water Supply and Drainage Board drew around 100 million litres a day.
Or, in other words, the loss of water due to reduction in water level equalled 25 days’ water supply to Coimbatore city, the sources point out.
Had the Kerala Government allowed water level to touch the full reservoir level, the storage by the end of June 2020 would not have been as critical as it was – just a foot or two above the dead storage level.
The source say to prevent the recurrence of such a situation, the Tamil Nadu Government has written to the Kerala Government and indications are that the latter may relent this year. And, if it does, water supply to the city during Summer 2021 will not be a problem, the sources hope.