Stalin writes to Kerala CM again seeking share of Siruvani water

Coimbatore: Chief minister M K Stalin on Sunday wrote to his Kerala counterpart to ensure full reservoir level storage of 878.50m in Siruvani dam and to share 1.30 TMC of water, as Coimbatore city, the beneficiary of the water scheme, is facing drinking water shortage.
This is the second time Stalin has written to Pinarayi Vijayan on the matter.
A letter sent on February 1 evoked no response from the Kerala irrigation department, which continues to supply less quantity of water.
In the fresh letter, Stalin urged Pinarayi to find a solution at the earliest. “Siruvani is a major source of drinking water for the city as 101.40 MLD of water from the reservoir forms a major share of the city’s total water requirement of 265 MLD. The Kerala irrigation department is maintaining water level in the dam at 877m, instead of full reservoir level (FRL) of 878.50m, as stipulated in the interstate agreement entered on August 19, 1973. Lowering the water level by 1.5m results in a shortage of 122.05 MCFT of water, which is 19% of the total storage. This creates difficulties in catering to the needs of Coimbatore city in summer months,” he said.
In the last six years, the state has received only 0.484 TMC to 1.128 TMC, as against 1.30 TMC stipulated in the agreement, the letter said. “Our team has been requesting your officials to take necessary steps to restore water storage up to the FRL. I also wrote to you personally on this issue. However, no steps were taken by the Kerala irrigation department to restore the storage to FRL.”
“Only this step can help us to meet the water requirement of Coimbatore city and suburbs. I look forward to a positive response in this regard,” the CM added.
Earlier, a meeting held by the Tamil Nadu water supply and drainage board with the Kerala irrigation department did not yield results.
Municipal administration minister K N Nehru, who inspected projects in the city in the second week of May, stated that a high-level team will be sent to Kerala to hold talks on the Siruvani issue, but it did not happen. On his next visit to the city on Wednesday, Nehru blamed Kerala for the water crisis.