The water level at Mullaperiyar reservoir in Idukki district of Kerala reached 136 feet late Sunday (August 10) night, officials said.
The Idukki district collector held discussions with the collector of Theni in neighbouring Tamil Nadu, with regard to the release of water through the tunnel to Vaigai dam.
The Kerala government had on Saturday asked the Tamil Nadu government to release water from Mullaperiyar through the tunnel to Vaigai Dam in a phased manner when the water level reaches 136 feet in view of heavy rains in Idukki.
“The water level has reached 136 feet. I have talked to the Theni collector. No decision has been made as of now with regard to the opening of the shutters. They have assured us that we will be informed prior to opening,” Idukki district collector H Dineshan told PTI.
He said the district administration has made all arrangements to shift the people in case of any emergency.
In a letter, Kerala Chief Secretary Vishwas Mehta had asked his Tamil Nadu counterpart to inform the state government, 24 hours prior to the opening of the shutters.
“The state is receiving heavy rains, especially in the Idukki district. The water level in the catchment area of Mullaperiyar has been steadily rising. The water level, which was at 116.20 feet on August 3, reached 131.25 feet by 2 pm on August 7,” Mehta said in his letter.
He also pointed out that the MeT office has issued a red alert for Saturday and Sunday in the district, indicating extreme heavy rainfall. He said currently the inflow to the dam is 13,257 cusecs of water and the outflow through the tunnel is 1,650 cusecs.
In the letter sent to Tamil Nadu Chief Secretary K Shanmugam, Mehta had said that as per information provided by the Executive Engineer of MI Division at Kattappana, the surplus shutters of Tamil Nadu-controlled Periyar dam were capable of releasing 1,22,000 cusecs of water.
“We know the extent of damage when 23,000 cusecs of water were released in 2018. Hence, necessary steps should be taken to release water in a phased manner,” he had added.
According to information provided by the Idukki district administration, the water level at Mullaperiyar at 10 pm on August 9 was 136 feet.