Flood alert has been issued in 36 villages along the banks of the Thenpennai by the Water Resources Department (WRD) as 850 cusecs of water was released from the Sathanur dam in Tiruvannamalai on Friday, after the water-level reached 116.55 feet as against the dam’s maximum level of 119 feet.
Officials said the inflow into the dam was 1,250 cusecs as the shutters of the Krishnagiri dam had been opened because of rain. The sluice gates located 8 km away from the reservoir downstream were opened. Water has been released into the river since Thursday evening, and distributed to the left and right bank canals from the pick-up dam.
Of the storage capacity of 7.32 tmcft of water, the dam had storage of 7.22 tmcft on Friday. “Water from Sathanur dam will be released into the river until the water from the upstream (Krishnagiri dam) is stopped,” B. Rajesh, Assistant Engineer (AE), WRD (Sathanur Dam), told The Hindu.
In his order, Tiruvannamalai District Collector B. Murugesh has asked the residents in the villages along the banks to move to safe places. Local panchayat and revenue officials and the police were directed to take steps to move residents from low-lying areas to safety. Residents were warned against crossing the river as the water flow had been on the rise since Friday.
Restoration project
The Public Works Department (PWD) officials said this was the first time after many years that the water level in the dam, which was built in 1958, had reached the full level of 119 ft. This was made possible after the old sluice gates were replaced after the restoration project of the dam in June 2022. Earlier, water could be stored only up to the level of 99 ft, considering the safety of the structure, especially its rusted sluice gates.
Every year, 4 tmc of water is stored in the dam for irrigation. The dam feeds 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 provides at least 2 tmcft. of water for domestic consumption of residents in at least 150 villages and major towns such as Chengam and Tiruvannamalai, without reducing its deck storage level of 56 ft.
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