Kerala carrying out maintenance work in Siruvani Reservoir

City’s water supply not to be affected

Kerala Irrigation Department carrying out maintenance work in the Siruvani Reservoir will not affect water supply to the city, the Tamil Nadu Water Supply and Drainage Board (TWAD) Board sources said here on Wednesday.

The Board’s assurances to the public comes in the wake of media reports that the department has been trying to seal an outlet pipeline.

The sources said that as of Wednesday the water level was 8.2 feet above the dead storage level and well above the last and fourth intake valve, which was at least six feet below the level. With the available water, the Board could meet the Coimbatore Corporation’s water needs till June 20 and that there was no need to panic.

On Wednesday, the Board supplied 70 MLD (million litres a day) water to the Corporation.

The sources said beneath the last intake valve and buried under the dam bed were to outlet pipelines. The media reports seemed to suggest that the Kerala Irrigation Department was working to close the mouths of the pipelines, just as it had attempted to do so in 2014.

The attempt to seal the pipelines had become an annual affair for the department, which took it up during May-June depending on the water level.

The Board was in touch with its counterparts in the department to ascertain the veracity of the statement that it attempted to seal the mouths of the pipelines and was also apprising its officials in Chennai.

In a related development, the Thanthai Periyar Dravidar Kazhagam petitioned the district administration seeking the State Government’s intervention.

It said what the Kerala Government was doing in Siruvani was a violation of the inter-State water sharing agreement as it had not informed the Tamil Nadu Government.

This was not withstanding the fact that the Tamil Nadu Government paid the Kerala Government for the reservoir’s upkeep.

It claimed that if the Kerala Irrigation Department were to seal the mouths of the pipelines, the city’s water supply would be severely affected.

The Board sources, however, said that even if the Kerala Government attempted to seal the pipelines the Tamil Nadu Government could do very little because it was outside the scope of the inter-State agreement.