Inflow into Mettur Dam declines to 31,400 cusecs

The inflow of water into the Mettur Dam today dropped to 31,400 cusecs, compared to nearly 60,000 cusecs last week, official sources said.

The inflow into the dam had seen a sharp drop to 39,000 cusecs yesterday morning from over 50,000 cusecs and further to 31,400 cusecs today, they said.

As a result, the discharge had been decreased to 33,970 cusecs from 39,000 cusecs.

The sources said there was a fall in inflows from Karnataka, resulting in lower realisation of water in the Cauvery river at the Mettur dam.

The water level in the dam stood at 120.20 feet against its maximum of 120 feet while the storage was 93.79 tmc ft against the capacity of 93.4 tmc ft today, they said.

The dam, the lifeline of Cauvery delta farmers in the state, reached its maximum level on July 23 after a gap of five years.

The dam was opened for irrigation on July 19 by Chief Minister K Palaniswami after copious inflows, which crossed one lakh cusecs in the preceeding few days following heavy rains in Karnataka, led to considerable increase in the water level.