Collector inspects Anaikuttam dam

Collector J. Meghanath Reddy on Tuesday declared a holiday for schools and colleges in the district on Wednesday as heavy rain is predicted.

Earlier, incessant drizzle since Monday night forced the district administration to declare holiday for schools on Tuesday.

The district had reported widespread rainfall in the last 24 hours ending at Tuesday morning. Sasthakoil recorded the highest rainfall of 58 mm followed by Rajapalayam with 22 mm.

Meanwhile, the Collector inspected Anaikuttam dam, as part of the precautionary measures being taken in connection with north east monsoon.

As of now, the reservoir, which is the major source of drinking water for Virudhunagar Municipality, has negligible quantity of water.

With not good flow into the dam, a minor leak in one of the nine shutters was helping the Virudhunagar Municipality with good recharge of its take-off well, an official said.

The dam will get water from the Western Ghats after Pilavakkal Periyar, Kovilar dams and the Big Tank at Watrap start overflowing. The dam constructed across the Arjuna river though has got over 4,000 acres of ayacut, water has not been released for irrigation for more than 10 years.

The Collector instructed the Public Works Department officials rework the proposal to replace the nine shutters, an official said. A statement said that all the water bodies in the district was under continuous watch. He has instructed the officials to ensure that surplus water from the dams should be released without causing any adverse impact on the people living downstream.

District Revenue Officer, R. Mangalaramasubramanian, Executive Engineer, PWD, Raja and Sivakasi Tahsildar, Rajkumar, were present. Of eight dams in Virudhunagar district, only Sastha Koil dam has surplus with 30 cusecs of inflow being discharged through the weir. The dam has water to its full capacity of 103.40 metre with a storage of 36.47 mcft.

Other dams that has significant storage are Periyar and Kovilar. While Periyar has water up to 200.85 metres (204.50 metres) with an iflow of 19.06 cusecs and no discharge. Kovilar has water up to 206.25 metres (212 metres) with an inflow of 6.56 cusecs. Kullarsandhai has 28.9 metres of water (30.20 metres) and Vembakottai 81.99 metres (87.50 metres). Golwarpatti, Anaikuttam and Irrukkangudi have almost nil storage.

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