Owing to the low water level in the Stanley Reservoir at Mettur, the dam will not be opened on Friday (June 12), the scheduled date for the release of water for delta irrigation.

As per the schedule, the dam is opened on June 12 every year for the release of water for irrigation and remains open until January 28. Officials of the Water Resources Department at Mettur Dam said on Thursday (June 11) that the water level was below 80 feet and that the catchment areas had not received substantial rainfall. The government will decide on the release of water for irrigation if the region receives heavy rainfall in the coming days.

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It may be noted that, in the 93-year history of the Mettur Dam, water has been released for delta irrigation on the scheduled date of June 12 only 20 times. On 11 occasions, water was released before June 12. However, on 61 occasions, water was released only after June 12. This year marks the 62nd occasion on which the scheduled June 12 release has been missed

On Thursday, the dam’s water level stood at 79.62 ft. against its capacity of 120 ft. The storage level stood at 41.57 TMC against its capacity of 93.47 TMC. Inflow into the dam reduced to 424 cusecs from 528 cusecs. For drinking water purposes, water discharged from the dam into the Cauvery is maintained at 1,000 cusecs.