Salem: Water level in the Mettur dam touched 115.32ft on Saturday against its full storage capacity of 120ft. The inflow now stands at 14,404 cubic feet per second (cusecs), while 1,303 cusecs of water is being released from the dam.
An official with the Water Resources Department (WRD) said the water level would reach full capacity in a few days, if the current inflow persists.
He said there was a sudden increase in the inflow to the dam after heavy rain lashed the Cauvery catchment areas over the past few days. "On the night of December 2, the inflow at Hogenakkal in Dharmapuri district was recorded at 5,500 cusecs. The inflow surged to 14,000 cusecs by Tuesday and then to 43,000 cusecs on Wednesday, forcing the Dharmapuri district administration to ban coracle riding and bathing in the river and at Hogenakkal Falls."
However, the inflow dropped to 33,000 cusecs on Thursday, to 21,000 cusecs on Friday and then to 14,404 cusecs on Friday night. "The inflow now remains at 14,404 cusecs," the official said.
He said they were releasing 1,000 cusecs of water to the delta districts for irrigation and another 300 cusecs through the dam's East and West bank canals to support irrigation in Salem, Erode and Namakkal districts.
(Photo: A M Shudhagar, Salem)