'Don't open Mettur before Aug 3rd week'

AMID demands for urgent release of River Cauvery water for irrigation following the significant rise in inflow into the Mettur dam over the past 10 days, several farmers in the delta region and experts say it would be prudent to defer any plans of opening the reservoir's sluices till the third week of August to ensure a successful samba paddy cultivation season.

- N RAMESH

While Karnataka refused to abide by the Cauvery Water Regulation Committee's (CWRC) directive to release 1 tmcft of water daily from July 12 to July 31, the recent heavy monsoon rains in the river's catchment areas led the Kabini dam in the state to become full. Following this, the water release from the reservoir was stepped up, which, in turn, led to increased inflow into the Mettur dam from July 16. The inflow to the dam, which was then 20,910 cusecs, rose progressively to 79,682 cusecs on July 23. It, however, tapered from then on and stood at 33,040 cusecs as on Thursday morning when the dam level stood at 89.31 feet (52 tmcft).