TWAD officials inspect Siruvani dam in Kerala

COIMBATORE: A team of Tamil Nadu Water Supply and Drainage (TWAD) board officials, led by TWAD Superintendent Engineer Senthil Kumar, visited the Siruvani dam in Kerala on Friday and inspected water pumping stations and drawing wells, and urged their counterparts in Kerala to maintain the water level at the full reservoir level (FRL).According to sources, this is the first dam visit by the officials in two years since the floods in Kerala and the pandemic.

Siruvani Dam is one of the largest and main sources of water for Coimbatore. Before Coimbatore City Municipal Corporation’s (CCMC) ward strength was increased to 100 from 60, Siruvani used to be the major drinking water source for the people. Of the total requirement of 265.70 MLD of drinking water for the district, 101.4 MLD of water is supplied through this dam. The water drawn from the dam is currently supplied to a total of 22 wards in the CCMC, 28 village panchayats and seven town panchayats across the district.

After the 2019 floods, Kerala government has been maintaining water levels in all dams below FRL.
Due to this, the Kerala irrigation department is maintaining the maximum water level of Siruvani at 877.00m instead of the FRL at 878.50m, stipulated in the interstate agreement. 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 in summer.

A senior TWAD board official told TNIE, “We inspected the motor rooms, drawing wells and the dam. Everything looks intact. The officials from Kerala informed us about their government’s order to release the water before the dam reaches its FRL.”“Also, Palakkad Collector has asked Kerala officials to further reduce the water level and maintain it at 875m due to heavy rains in the dam and to prevent flash floods. However, we have urged them to maintain the water level at 877m constantly and not to discharge the water frequently as it would further decrease the water supply for the district,” the official added.