KOCHI: Kerala government will urge the Supervisory Committee to keep the water level in Mullaperiyar dam low in August considering the recent trend of heavy rains during the period. Irrigation chief engineer and Kerala’s representative in the Supervisory Committee Alex Varghese told TNIE that the state has urged the panel to convene a meeting immediately to discuss the situation prevailing in downstream areas following heavy inflow in Mullaperiyar dam.
However, Tamil Nadu has conveyed that the additional chief secretary for water resources will not be available till August 18. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has also written to his Tamil Nadu counterpart M K Stalin demanding to keep the water level in the dam low. The rain pattern in Kerala has changed after the 2018 floods and the monsoon becomes active in the latter half of the season. The state has been receiving torrential rains during the first two weeks of August for the past five years.
Mullaperiyar dam has been receiving heavy inflow for the past one week due to which the water level has risen to 139.55 feet against the rule curve level of 137.5 feet. The dam was receiving an inflow of 11,210 cusecs at 7 pm on Tuesday. Tamil Nadu has increased the release of water through spillway to 10,308 cusecs and drawing 2,216 cusecs through its tunnel.
The heavy outflow from Mullaperiyar has led to a steep rise in water level in Idukki reservoir. This has led to inundation of houses in downstream areas of Vallakadavu and Vandiperiyar.The water level in Idukki stood at 2,387.20 feet which is 81.9 per cent of the storage. The dam is releasing 325 cumecs of water into Cheruthoni river, which has led to flooding in downstream areas.
Rain has subsided in the catchment areas of Mullaperiyar, and the Idukki district administration is hoping that the inflow may decrease by Wednesday.However, an IMD forecast regarding the formation of another low pressure area in the Bay of Bengal is causing concern.Though Kerala had demanded to convene a meeting of Supervisory Committee a week ago, Tamil Nadu was of the opinion that the situation was under control.