The Tamil Nadu Water Supply and Drainage (TWAD) Board awaits heavy rain in Palakkad district of Kerala where the Siruvani Dam is located, as the catchment area has not seen rain in 20 days, according to an official in the Board.
It is learnt that at present, 71.22 MLD (million litres a day) of drinking water is released to the district.
The Coimbatore district’s total drinking water requirement is 265.70 MLD. Of this, 101.4 MLD is availed of usually from Siruvani reservoir for supplying to 22 wards under the Coimbatore Corporation, 28 village panchayats and seven town panchayats.
The reservoir’s water level has been lingering around 23 feet against the full reservoir level (FRL) of 49.53 feet over the dead storage level for 10 days.
According to data shared by the TWAD Board official, the water level on August 16 was 23.62 feet. The storage was 211.92 mcft (million cubic feet) as against the reservoir’s storage capacity of 650 mcft.
On August 15, the water level was at 23.78 feet and the storage was at 214.27 mcft, and on August 14, it was 23.62 feet and 211.92 mcft respectively. The dead storage level (maintained for forest animals) is at 16 feet, (250 mcft storage). The water level and storage meant for distribution to the public is calculated by excluding the dead storage.
Notably, the storage level on August 3 and 4 was 23.98 feet (215.95 mcft). A week prior to this, i.e. on July 28, the level was maintained at 22.63 feet.
For over 20 days, the catchment area of the dam situated in the Palakkad district saw only 1 mm of rainfall on August 5, which is a cause for concern, the official said.
A momentary water level surge was recorded in July. On July 4, the level was at 0.61 ft, and it was 0.79 ft the following day after 30mm of rain was recorded by IMD in 24 hours.
In the next 24 hours, the catchment saw 122 mm rainfall and the reservoir’s water level jumped to 5.64ft against the FRL of 49.53 ft on July 6.
Weather forecast
According to the India Meteorological Department’s cumulative weather report from June 1 to August 14 this year, the actual rainfall recorded in Palakkad district was 612 mm. The normal rainfall in this Kerala district is 1,190.6 mm, as per the Department.
The forecast predicted that the district may witness a partly cloudy sky with the possibility of moderate rain or thunderstorm from August 17 to 21 and rain or thundershowers from August 22.
It is to be noted that the Department had earlier forecast that there was a possibility of moderate rain or thunderstorm from August 15, but the district recorded no rain till 8.30 a.m. on August 17.
