Farmers want water release from Kundah Hydro reservoirs to Bhavanisagar dam

Farmers in Erode urge Water Resources Department to seek additional water from Kundah Hydro reservoirs due to low dam levels.

With water storage levels in the Bhavanisagar Dam receding to less than 10 tmc ft (thousand million cubic feet), inadequate to meet the requirements of the second crop season, farmers in the Lower Bhavani Project (LBP) canal ayacut areas have urged the Water Resources Department (WRD) to seek 2 tmc ft water from Kundah Hydro reservoirs in The Nilgiris.

Water from the Bhavanisagar Dam was being released into the canal from January 5, 2024, to benefit 1,03,500 acres in the districts of Erode, Tiruppur and Karur, where farmers widely cultivate groundnut and sesame crops, and water release is required till the end of April for the crops. But, poor rainfall and poor inflow have led to a drop in storage levels in the dam which is a cause of concern for farmers.

At 2 p.m. on Tuesday, water level in the dam stood at 67 feet against the full reservoir level of 105 feet. The inflow was 39 cusecs, while the discharge was 2,300 cusecs into the LBP canal, 700 cusecs into the Arakkankottai and Thadapalli canals, 150 cusecs into Kalingarayan Canal and 100 cusecs into the River Bhavani for drinking water purpose. The storage was 9.74 tmc ft against the total capacity of 32.80 tmc ft.

With storage level dropping, Thirumoorthy, Executive Engineer of the Lower Bhavani Basin Division, conducted a meeting at his office with members of the Lower Bhavani Farmers Federation, in which president in-charge A. Ramasamy, secretary R. Eswaramoorthy and other office bearers took part. Farmers stressed the importance of releasing water for 26 days in March and April and pointed out that shortage of water would affect the crops severely. “Water could be obtained from Kundah Hydro reservoirs for improving the storage level in the dam for supply in the canal from April 18 to April 30,” they added.

It may be recalled that in October, 2023, when water level dropped to 66 feet, farmers placed the same request and Tangedco agreed to release 5 tmc ft water. But, due to an increase in storage in the dam, water was not released from the reservoirs in The Nilgiris.