Having been let down by the southwest monsoon, coupled with non-release of water from Mettur dam on the customary date of June 12 for delta irrigation this year, farmers in the region, whose kuruvai crop (short-term paddy crop) has failed, are now looking up to Varuna Bhagwan (rain god) to shower his mercy on them.

Last year, farmers in the delta districts had a bumper kuruvai thanks to the release of water from Mettur dam on June 6, much ahead of the customary date.

But, the failure of the southwest monsoon to fill the irrigation tanks has now upset them.
The farmers fear that the situation would worsen if the northeast monsoon also fails, says Mr Swamimalai Vimalanathan, district secretary of the Cauvery farmers’ protection association.

As water from Mettur dam has not yet been released this year, kuruvai has been taken up only by farmers who have pumpset irrigation facility.

Kuruvai has so far been raised in about 16,110 hectares, against the anticipated 66,100 hectares this year, sources in the agriculture department said.
Public works department (PWD) officials, however, expressed helplessness.

“We bank on Karnataka for delta irrigation. As Karnataka did not release the water, legitimately due to us as per the final award of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal, there was no adequate storage of water in Mettur dam. Therefore, water from the dam was not released on the scheduled date.

Moreover, the situation became worse and got aggravated due to the failure of the southwest monsoon and lack of rainfall in the catchment areas,” a PWD official pointed out.

It has been the customary practice to open the dam whenever the water level reaches 90-95 feet though farmers have demanded the dam be opened when the water level rises up to 80 feet, the PWD official said.

For now, no irrigation water from Mullaiperiyar

Mullaiperiyar dam might have been opened for irrigation of Cumbum valley a week ago. Yet, the farmers of the region are a worried lot. For, the poor storage level owing to deficient southwest monsoon has forced the PWD to temporarily suspend release of water for agricultural activities.

On Tuesday, the PWD brought down the discharge from 200 cusecs meant for farming to a mere 30 cusecs to cater to the drinking water needs of Cumbum. Official sources said the decision was taken in consultation with the farmers’ associations.

As a stopgap measure, discharge will be maintained at 30 cusecs for the next three days. “It has been decided to release water for irrigation from July 7 (Saturday).

However, there is no hard and fast rule. If the storage rises to a comfortable level even before that, then the required quantity of water will be let out to help farmers raise seedlings,” an official in the Periyar-Vaigai basin said.

Storage is considered comfortable for irrigation only if the level reaches 115 feet. Though the dam level stood at 111.9 feet on Monday, it rose to 112.3 feet (reduced reservoir level is 136 feet) on Tuesday, thanks to considerable amount of rainfall in its catchments. While Thekkady received 21.2 mm rains, the dam recorded 95 mm triggering a rise in the inflow.

Worried over the poor monsoon, 25 farmers from Cumbum valley travelled to Thekkady and conducted an interfaith prayer on Tuesday to invoke the rain god. “Rains in the last 24 hours indicate the rising trend of monsoon in Kerala. Reports reaching us say there is a constant drizzle in the catchments today,” the official said.

The PWD had promised release of water for 120 days from June 25 to irrigate 14,707 acres in Uthamapalayam and Bodi blocks of the valley but with rains playing truant, it could not keep its word.

parched veeranam rings alarm bells

An imminent water shortage ahead of the northeast monsoon looms large over Chennai not only due to fast drying city reservoirs but also due to almost parched Veeranam tank Currently, Veeranam tank has only 0.094tmcft with zero inflow.

Curiously, the storage position was nil the same period last year, but it increased steadily in a week as the inflow rose over 1,000cusecs in a week then.

However, the chances of immediate rain in the catchment areas remain bleak, as the city did not receive the expected rainfall during this summer.

Civic body officials would be relying heavily on the two dozen and odd borewells dug along Punrutti-Sethiathoppu route in the event of an acute water shortage.

The borewells are the only hope for Chennai if the monsoon fails and the Veeranam gets parched, experts of the state water resource department said.

Also, the groundwater level in the city is fast depleting with the people tapping most of it during the dog days of the summer. Experts are also certain that the city would be facing a tough three months ahead of the NE monsoon this year as the water scenario is relatively poor.

The current storage position in the city reservoirs is 1.52tmcft less than the corresponding year. Both the storage and discharge from Kandaleru reservoir was better last year.