A flood alert to 15 villages along the bank of the Thenpennai River has been issued by the Water Resources Department (WRD) as 1,000 cusecs of water per second is being released from the Sathanur dam in Tiruvannamalai on Sunday (October 27, 2024), after the level reached 114.50 feet as against the dam’s total capacity of 119 feet.
The water from the dam has been released for the third time since September when 850 cusecs of water were released then. This time, the villages on the foothills of Kalvarayan Hills such as Lalpettai, Kattumannarkoil, Thattakudi, Mullakudi and Paruthikudi received heavy rainfall. These villages come under Tirukkoyilur, Vanapuram and Thandrampet taluks in Villupuram, Kallakurichi and Tiruvannamalai districts respectively.
“Water from Sathanur dam has been released to maintain the storage level at 114 ft as per norms for October month. Only in December, we can store water to its full capacity of 119 feet,” K. Santhosh, Assistant Engineer (AE), WRD (Sathanur Dam), told The Hindu.
Officials of WRD, which maintains the dam, said that the total water inflow of 3,630 cusecs per second due to water released from three sources, namely Krishnagiri Reservoir Project (KRP) dam, Kalvarayan hills and Pambar River in Jawadhu hills. These three water sources, which are upstream of Sathanur dam, have been receiving steady rains in recent weeks.
The sluice gates of the dam that is located 8 km away from the reservoir downstream was opened to discharge water into the dam’s left and right bank canals. Of the total storage capacity of 7,321 mcft of water, the dam had storage of 7,220 mcft.
In his order, Tiruvannamalai Collector D. Bhaskara Pandian has asked residents in villages along the bank of the river to relocate themselves to safer places away from the riverbank. Local panchayat and revenue officials and the police were also directed to take necessary steps to move residents from low-lying areas along the riverbank to safer places. Residents were also warned from crossing the river as the water flow has been on the rise.
Public Works Department (PWD) officials said this is the first time after many years that the dam has attained the capacity to store water to its full capacity of 119 ft, since its inception way back in 1958. This was made possible after the old sluice gates were replaced with new ones.
Every year, 4 tmc of water is stored in the dam for irrigation. The dam also helps to store water in 88 tanks along the route in these districts. While water from the dam’s Left Bank Canal feeds 30 tanks in Tiruvannamalai and 10 in Villupuram, the Right Bank Canal is connected to 48 tanks in Villupuram. The dam also provides at least 2 tmc water for domestic consumption of residents in at least 150 villages and major towns like Chengam and Tiruvannamalai, without reducing its deck storage level of 56 ft.
Published - October 27, 2024 03:48 pm IST
