TIRUPPUR: The water level in the Lower Bhavani Dam is rising rapidly following heavy rains in the Nilgiris and Coimbatore districts. The water inflow into the dam crossed 21,000 cusecs on Wednesday. Due to the high inflow, the water level of the dam has risen by 4.5 feet in 24 hours from 71 ft recorded on Tuesday.
Similarly, the inflow of water to one of Tiruppur's main dams, Amaravathi, has increased due to continuous rains in its catchment areas bordering the Kerala state. The water level in Amaravathi has risen by 10 ft in 24 hours and was recorded at 80 ft on Wednesday.
The surplus water from the dam will be released once the level reaches 89 ft, said Water Resources Department (WRD) officials.
The water storage of the Lower Bhavani Dam rose to 13.4 tmcft (full storage level 32.8 tmcft) and inflow was 21,383 cusecs. The water level was 75.5 ft against its full level of 105 ft, state WRD data released on Wednesday.
WRD officials of the dam said, "Surplus water from Pillur Dam continues to flow into the Bhavani River. Along with this, the catchment areas are also receiving continuous good rains. This also flows to the dam through the Moyar River. This has increased the water inflow into the dam. The situation is likely to continue. This is good news for dam-dependent irrigation projects."
On Wednesday, 500 cusecs of water were released from the dam to the Thadapalli and Arakkankottai canals in Erode district and 500 cusecs to the Kalingarayan irrigation canal. 100 cusecs to the Bhavani River and 5 cusecs to the LBP canal were released for drinking water.
Notably, water should be opened for irrigation into the LBP canal on August 15. Meanwhile, on Wednesday, the water inflow into the Amaravathi Dam was 4,000 cusecs. The water level stood at 80 ft against its full level of 90 ft and 100 cusecs was released for irrigation.
"The surplus water from the dam will be released once the water level reaches 89 ft. We expect the dam to reach full storage level by Thursday evening or Friday morning. Because there is constant variation in the water inflow into the dam. However, rain continues in catchment areas," said WRD officials.
At the same time, Tiruppur's other major dam, Thirumoorthy, had a low water inflow of 22 cusecs on Wednesday morning with 28 cusecs released for drinking needs. Its water level was 28 ft against its full level of 60 ft. However, tourists were banned from bathing in the Panchalinga waterfall.