Coimbatore
A sharp decline in the inflow into the Mettur dam has sparked concern among farmers over the availability of water for samba paddy cultivation in the Cauvery Delta, even as the reservoir continues to release 12,400 cusecs for irrigation. The inflow fell to 1,174 cusecs on Friday, significantly lower than the volume of water being discharged from the dam. It had stood at 8,993 cusecs on September 7 before declining to 3,718 cusecs on September 9 and 2,250 cusecs on September 10. With the outflow considerably exceeding the inflow, the reservoir’s water level has been dropping rapidly. Against the dam’s full reservoir level of 120 feet, the water level declined from 91.28 feet on September 9 to 90.52 feet on Thursday.
It fell further to 89.67 feet on Friday. The decline has occurred days after the Cauvery Water Management Authority upheld a direction issued by the Cauvery Water Regulation Committee asking Karnataka to release 6,000 cusecs of water daily to Tamil Nadu for 15 days. An official at the Mettur dam said Karnataka had again increased the discharge from its reservoirs and that the fresh release was expected to reach Tamil Nadu on Saturday. However, the exact quantity of water released would become clear only after it entered the State, the official added. The expected arrival may provide temporary relief to the Mettur reservoir. Farmers, however, fear that any prolonged reduction in inflow could affect samba paddy cultivation, which depends heavily on timely and adequate irrigation from the Cauvery system.
The continuing discharge from Mettur is necessary to protect standing crops across the delta districts. But the rapid depletion of storage has raised questions over whether releases can be sustained unless Karnataka maintains the stipulated flow. C. Nallasamy, secretary of the Tamil Nadu Federation of Farmers Associations, said delta farmers were already finding it difficult to protect crops that were beginning to dry up. This was despite Karnataka having completed the harvest of its first crop, he said. Nallasamy said water released during the past 45 days was insufficient to meet the irrigation requirements of samba cultivation. He warned that a further deterioration in water availability could place farmers under severe pressure and threaten the crop unless inflow into Mettur improves substantially in the coming days.