COIMBATORE: The district administration has claimed that going by the current water level in Siruvani dam, drinking water can be supplied smoothly for 102 days till July 8, when the south-west monsoon is expected to commence. In a press release, Collector Kranthi Kumar Pati described as untrue reports which said there was insufficient water in the dam and the city may face water scarcity.
“As water from Siruvani dam flows into the dense forest area, there is no blockage in the streams. As of now, water level in the dam is 868.75 meter. As per the agreement with Kerala, water can be drawn till 863.40 m and even at this last water level, there will be 250.379 million cubic feet of water storage in Siruvani dam,” he said.
“Kerala Engineering Research Institute officials inspected the Siruvani Dam and said only 0.06 cubic millimeter of soil gets deposited in the dam per year. This soil deposition is a very small quantity. Out of the total height of the dam of 49.50 m, only 15.10 m of the full capacity of the dam is used for drinking water needs as per the agreement between the two states. Therefore, there is no impact on the project due to siltation,” the collector said.
The storage in the dam is less due to the lack of adequate rainfall in the catchment areas during the last north-east and south-west monsoons. As on March 28, the water level of Siruvani dam is 868.75 m. The dam holds 143.48 million cubic feet of water. As the Kerala Irrigation Department has controlled the water intake valve, 40 million litres of water is being taken daily. However, as per the current situation, drinking water can be supplied smoothly till the next monsoon starts,” he added.
Pointing to the newly inaugurated Pillur III drinking water scheme, the collector said drinking water of 30 to 40 MLD per day can be taken as per the development plan and there would not be drinking water scarcity in coming days.