Chennai: Chief Minister M K Stalin sought the intervention of his Kerala counterpart Pinayari Vijayan in directing his authorities to increase the flow of water into the Siruvani dam to enable the maintenance of storage at the full reservoir level of 878.50 m with a view to providing uninterrupted water supply to Coimbatore Corporations and other beneficiaries of the project.
In a letter to Vijayan on Tuesday, Stalin recalled the Agreement signed between the Government of Tamil Nadu and the Government of Kerala on August 19, 1973 for the supply of water not exceeding 1.30 TMC annually to the erstwhile Coimbatore Municipal Town for 99 years.
‘Though, the agreement provides for supply of water up to 1.30 TMC, the actual supply is far less than that. Over the past six years the State has received water ranging from 0.484 TMC to 1.128 TMC only,’ he said.
He said Siruvani dam was the prime source of water for Coimbatore city and 101.4 MLD water was being supplied from the dam out of the total requirement of 265 MLD.
Despite adequate rainfall in the Siruvani catchment areas, the Kerala irrigation department was storing water only at the level of 877 m as against the full level of 878.5 m, which had led to a shortage of 122 mcft (19% of total storage) and a reduction in the supply to Coimbatore, he said.
By storing water to the full capacity of 650 mcft, 101.40 MLD could be supplied to Coimbatore. But now that the storage had been brought down by 122 mcft, the flow to Coimbatore had come down to 85 MLD, he pointed out.
Regular meetings between officials of the two States and several appeals had not helped solving the issue, he said, adding: ‘If storage of water to its full capacity is not maintained, the Coimbatore Corporation and its adjoining areas, depending on Siruvani water, would be affected severely during the ensuing summer.’
Stalin also said that the Kerala Irrigation Department that had taken control of the IV valve of Intake Tower from January 3, 2022 could act only on the orders from Kerala Government and hence the appeal to the Chief Minister.
