The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Madurai News : PWD to draw water from Periyar dam to Vaigai reservoir

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, May 07, 2004

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Madurai

PWD to draw water from Periyar dam to Vaigai reservoir

By S. Sundar

MADURAI, MAY 6 . At last, the summer showers have bailed out the city residents from one of the worst drinking water crises, as the five-day wet spell has brought an adequate flow into the Periyar dam, which could be used to meet the drinking water requirements of the city till the

southwest monsoon sets in by June 1.

The Public Works Department will draw 142 mcft of water from the Periyar dam to the Vaigai dam from Friday evening. The Periyar reservoir has received 234 mcft of fresh inflow in the last few days taking the level to 110 feet today.

However, there was only a negligible flow into the Vaigai dam. The level also kept decreasing everyday as 30 cusecs of water is being discharged everyday to meet the city's drinking water requirement.

With the dwindling storage in the Vaigai dam, the worried city water managers were planning to stop the 65 million litres per day (MLD) alternate day water supply through pipeline and make do with groundwater drawn from wells in suburbs and distribute it using tankers. However, the short spell of rain has brought a big fortune for them. The expected 70 mcft of realisation in the Vaigai dam (after the release from Periyar dam) will take the total useful storage to 125 mcft, which will prolong the piped supply of four mcft daily till June 5.

Stating that it was the most conducive time for bringing water to the Vaigai dam, S. Suthanthira Amalraj, Executive Engineer, Periyar-Vaigai Basin Circle, said, "The wet river bed will help us take water to the Vaigai dam with a minimum loss." Already the PWD has been allowing river wetting once in 10 days (for five days) for recharging infiltration wells of the Theni drinking water project.

Over and above the 65 km of riverbed, the water from the Periyar dam has to cover another six km to reach the Vaigai dam. "This six km is crucial, as there has been no flow on this portion of the riverbed for the past four months," he said.

The 10-day release from tomorrow evening, apart from helping the Theni district, would also coincide with the week-long festival of the Koumariamman Temple on the banks of the Vaigai at Veerapandi, Mr. Amalraj said.

Water level

The level in the Periyar dam stood at 110 feet with an inflow of 185 cusecs. The level in the Vaigai dam was 22.15 feet with an inflow of 17 cusecs and a discharge of 30 cusecs. The combined Periyar credit was 974 mcft.

Rainfall

Melur received the highest rainfall of 102 mm followed by Thaniyamangalam, which recorded 53 mm in the last 24 hours. The rainfall in other palces (in mm) is: Chittampatti - 39.8, Madurai - 39.5, Periyar - 38, Viraganur - 30, Tekkadi - 15, Kallandiri - 14.3, Pulipatti - 12, Shanmuganadi - 8, Mettupatti - 6.4, Gudalur - 5, Marudanadi - 4, Idayapatti - 2.4, Sathiyar dam - 2 and Vaigai Dam 1.4.

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