VELLORE: Incessant rains received by the catchments of the upper Palar river, has increased the water-levels in the river, bringing cheers to residents of Ambalur village. Reportedly, the river was running dry for the last seven years.
Attributing this to the heavy downpour in the Kangunthi hills and the Mallakonda hills, environmentalist A Asokan said that the rains received by the these two hills bordering Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh respectively, has resulted in surface flow of water into the upper Palar area.
“It took three days for the surface water to fill the Palar river, as the river bed had gone dry for the last seven years. The Palar river bed in Ambalur has over 700 borewells, sunk by the government, to supply water to the nearby villages. As most of these wells had gone dry over the past several years, the fresh water from the upper Palar river would now recharge the ground water sources,” Asokan added.
Besides, the spill over water from the 32 check dams constructed across Palar river in Kolar in Karnataka and Chittoor in Andhra Pradesh, would add to the inflow in upper Palar river.
Since the Palar river basin is surrounded by hills, in the last two days, the run-off water from the several tributaries and small streams have reached the river. The Agaram and Peryaru rivers in the Eastern part of the river overflowed on Friday and were the first to reach Palar. While the rainfall was comparatively less in the western part of the river in the Gudiyattam area, water was scarce in the Malattar river, which is another tributary of Palar.