TIRUNELVELI
Cultivation of paddy during the ‘pisanam’ season has come down drastically as the monsoon has let down the district and storage level in all reservoirs in the district, which has to meet the drinking water needs also, is precarious.
The northeast monsoon that started in mid-October last year brought at least three rounds of heavy downpour across the district and along the Western Ghats before November-end to jack up the water level in the dams closer to their maximum capacity and in the rain-fed tanks substantially. Most of the rain-fed tanks and the dams were overflowing by December second week last year.
However, the monsoon that arrived Tirunelveli on delayed note only in November this year has so far recorded 30% deficit rainfall. Consequently, all six dams – Papanasam, Servalar, Manimuthar, Vadakku Pachchaiyar, Kodumudiyar and Nambiyar Dams – in the district have unstable storage level.
Believing in weather predictions and anticipating good rainfall, water from Papanasam Dam was released for ‘pisanam’ paddy cultivation on November 4 and from Manimuthar Dam on November 11 and the discharge of water has to be sustained till March 31 to facilitate good yield. However, nature has so far belied the weather predictions and water level in the dams is fast depleting due to insignificant precipitation in the catchment areas.
As of now, the Papansam and Manimuthar Dams have only 50% storage against their maximum capacity. While Papanasam Dam has 2,904.75 million cubic feet (mcft) water against its maximum capacity of 5,500 mcft, Manimuthar Dam, the district’s largest reservoir with 5,511 mcft capacity has only 2,836.25 mcft as on Thursday (December 15).
In other words, Papanasam Dam has only 52.81% water and the storage level in Manimuthar Dam is only 51.47%. Storage level in Servalar (43.16%), Vadakku Pachchaiyar (10.84%), Kodumudiyar (36.56%) and Nambiyar (18.96%) is still worse.
“As we’ve already promised, discharge of water from the dams has to be continued up to March 31. But the storage level in the dams is really worrying with insignificant rainfall continuing in the catchment areas. If this situation continues, we’ll be forced to discharge water in the irrigation channels on turn basis and hence the farmers will have to use water so judiciously for ensuring decent storage for meeting drinking water needs during next summer. If not, situation will be worse for all southern districts between March and October next year,” said a Public Works Department official.
Sensing the threat in store after the northeast monsoon let down the southern districts, most of the farmers, who had cultivated paddy during last ‘pisanam’ season, have preferred to skip the season this year due to precarious storage level in the dams. Even as though water has been released in all the irrigation channels, more than 40% of the agriculturists in Tirunelveli and Thoothukudi district have chosen to stay away from testing their fortune this year.
“You can see the lush green paddy fields on both sides of South Bypass Road in Palayamkottai whenever water is released in Palayam Channel. You can see only abundantly grown thorny bushes this year as cultivation has not been done in more than 90% of the fields along this busy road. Since the agriculturists are skeptical about their prospects, they did not want to gamble this year,” said N. Muruganantham of Palayamkottai having a field in this area.
