Rain at right time filled the dam
Heavy rain during last weekend raised the water level in the Siruvani Dam.More than 400 mm of rain over the last three days and increase of more than 10 ft in storage in the Siruvani Dam has enabled the Coimbatore Corporation put on hold its move to cut the duration of the supply of Siruvani drinking water by an hour.The monsoon is timely and has saved the areas served by the Siruvani scheme, according to Mayor R. Venkatachalam. With the situation improving over the last weekend, the Corporation does not want to cut the duration of supply. The move was announced last week when the water level was a little more than 20 feet, as against the full reservoir level of 67.44 ft.Water on Monday was 40 ft after heavy rain during the weekend (300 mm on Saturday and 140 mm on Sunday). It rose by seven ft since Sunday morning because of the copious inflow through the streams and falls from the upper reaches of the Siruvani hills. But, after the heavy spell during the weekend, the dam received much less rain during the subsequent days. Yet, the surplus water flowing from the Mukthikulam in the upper reaches had raised the water level.
Quoting water supply officials at the dam, the Mayor says heavy rain is expected in the days to come. “We hope that heavy rain will raise the storage to the full reservoir level in 10 days,” he said. Mr. Venkatachalam, however, warns people against wasting water. He says that only a crisis has been averted and it is not yet a situation of plenty.The Mayor says the Corporation will try and continue with the supply of 70 million litres a day. It will think of a further increase only after the dam is full.The Mayor says he will send a letter to the Chief Engineer of the Tamil Nadu Water Supply and Drainage Board on the need to install two equipment that will streamline power supply to the Pilloor drinking water scheme. “For a long time, people were led to believe that power trips caused bursts and leaks in the Pilloor scheme pipeline.Actually, the supply was hit because of the lack of the equipment that cost Rs.85 lakh,” the Mayor says.
All the problems have to be set right soon as the people in the more than 500 recently regularised layouts will demand house connections in a month.Besides, with the situation in the Siruvani Dam improving and surplus water being discharged from the Pilloor Dam, people will demand that the Corporation should increase the supply.
