Tamil Nadu - Coimbatore

Siruvani water level inches upwards despite poor rain at dam

COIMBATORE: Water level in the Siruvani Dam seems to be making a determined effort at climbing to the full reservoir level of 67 ft, despite the dam recording very little rain from August 15.

Rainfall has been only 3 mm or 4 mm on a couple of days and the rest of the days experience no rain at all. But, there has been a marginal rise in water level every day (see table), says Mayor R. Venkatachalam.

On Friday, the water level was a little more than 56 ft. The water level had not risen for 24 hours since Thursday morning as there was no rain.

The Corporation says that as the level gets closer to the top of the dam, the pace of the rise at this stage cannot be compared with the initial one. The rise will naturally be slow because of a large water spread area.

Even if the rise is not to the desired level, what the dam is getting now cannot be termed negligible, says the Mayor.

“Though there has been very little rain, the level has kept rising because of good inflow in the water falls that bring water from the upper reaches of the Siruvani Hills,” the Mayor points out. The water level keeps rising despite poor rain and the daily drawal of 75 to 80 million litres a day. This can be possible only from good inflow from the catchments, he says.

The Mayor says more rain is predicted and it may help in the storage touching the full reservoir level. But, the Corporation does not sound very confident that water may overflow from the dam this year.

This is because the overflow began on July 8 last year and there are more than 10 ft to go for the water level to rise to the brim even in mid-August this year.

Torrential rain in the catchments over the next one week can change things, according to the Corporation. But, the present situation does not guarantee that.

The Mayor says that the water supply situation can be managed till next summer. He is optimistic of more rain and inflow.

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