TIRUCHY: With the Mettur dam reaching its full capacity of 120 feet, farmers have petitioned the secretary of the Water Resources Department, K Manivasan, for the release of River Cauvery water into 14 crucial irrigation canals in the district for at least 150 days until harvest.
These canals irrigate about 1.5 lakh acres of samba paddy fields. During his visit to Tiruchy to inspect the flood situation, secretary Manivasan received a memorandum from the deputy secretary of the Cauvery Delta Farmers' Welfare Association, Kavandampatti R Subramanian.
In it, the farmers highlighted the need for 4,000 cusecs of water to be released daily from the third week of August to sustain the paddy fields until harvest. Farmers in Anthanallur, Manikandam, Musiri, Thottiam, Mannachanallur, Pullambadi, and Lalgudi blocks carry out samba cultivation in around 1.5 lakh acres.
They are heavily dependent on water from the Cauvery for cultivation, official sources said. These fields are irrigated by 14 canals including High Level Old Kattalai Canal, New Kattalai Canal, South Bank Canal and the Uyyakondan. These canals draw water from the Mayanur barrage in Karur and the Mukkombu barrage in Tiruchy, officials said.
The request comes when PWD officials, after the water release into the Cauvery from Mettur dam following the surplus discharge from Karnataka, diverted the excess water into the Kollidam. "We submitted a memorandum seeking release of 4,000 cusecs of water in all the 14 canals from the third week of August and it should be continued for at least 150 days.
The groundwater table has been declining due to multiple drinking water schemes on the Cauvery bed. So farmers are not able to irrigate their lands without water flowing into the canals," R Subramanian told TNIE.