Though the Mullaperiyar dam’s water level crossed the 136-ft-mark, Tamil Nadu is likely to release surplus water from the dam only after the level reaches 142 ft.
Pointing out that this position is based on the Supreme Court’s judgment, which permits Tamil Nadu to store water up to 142 ft, senior officials of the State government say inflow and rain forecast are the factors that have to be weighed before deciding to release the surplus water, which will flow through territories of Kerala before joining the sea.
“Our decision will be a dynamic one based on the data,” an official observes. At noon on Monday, the dam’s water level stood at 136.45 ft.
A few days ago, Kerala Chief Secretary Vishwas Mehta wrote to his Tamil Nadu counterpart K. Shanmugam, urging him to begin drawing water from the dam to Vaigai, in the event of the water level touching 136 ft.
Another official attached to the Public Works Department says that the drawal for Vaigai has been going on. As of now, 2,000 cubic feet per second (cusecs) is being discharged against Mullaperiyar’s inflow of around 4,400 cusecs.
Cauvery realisation
As for the Cauvery, the State, during June 1 to August 10, realised around 49.856 thousand million cubic feet (tmc ft) against its due of 55.253 tmc ft, as per recordings done at the Biligundlu gauging site, located on the Tamil Nadu-Karnataka border.
Quoting information provided by the Central Water Commission which maintains the gauging site, a PWD official says that the shortfall is about 5.4 tmc ft, which is expected to be wiped out in no time if the river on the side of Tamil Nadu continues to witness the present rate of flow.
For the entire month of August, the State should get 45.95 tmc ft, which means that it should receive about 36.5 tmc ft in the next 21 days. In the first 10 days of this month, the realisation by Tamil Nadu was 32 tmc ft.