Siruvani Water Level Rose Close To The FRL
It is a case of “so near, yet so far” for Siruvani Dam. The water level rose close to the full reservoir level (FRL) of 67.44 ft in the last week of October and it still remain there, instead of the much-expected overflow. The Coimbatore Corporation, the major dependent on the Siruvani drinking water scheme, was eagerly waiting for water to overflow from the dam around November 1. When the water level was about one foot from the FRL on October 30, the Corporation was optimistic that the overflow would happen in a couple of days and that rain would also continue.According to sources in the Corporation, this may be the first instance in a decade where the water has risen so close to the FRL but not overflowed. For more than a fortnight since then, the water level had remained a little above 66 ft. But, there had been no progress because the rain had stopped. Only the inflow from the catchments, especially water overflowing from the Mukthikulam in the upper reaches of the Siruvani Hills, maintained the water level at more than 66 ft.
This year, the South West Monsoon did not provide as much as it did last year (see table). It was only about 50 per cent of last year’s rain. It is only this monsoon that gives the maximum water to the dam. The North-East Monsoon does not provide to the dam as much water as the South West Monsoon does. Whatever the North-East Monsoon provides is only a bonus, the sources point out. It provided 569 mm last year and 367 so far this year, according to the Corporation. “There has been no rain over the past few days.
Only today there was 1 mm rain at the dam,” Mayor R. Venkatachalam said on Wednesday. A thick cloud cover at the dam provided hopes of more rain and the water level rising. The Mayor said there was enough water in the dam to take care of the present need. And, there would be enough water to cross this summer if there was austerity in use. But, the city could not afford to waste water, going by the storage in the dam, he said. “We are looking at keeping all the bore wells in the city in good condition. The people should use Siruvani water only for drinking and cooking. The comfortable situation now can turn into scarcity if the use is not judicious,” he said.
