S. Vydhianathan Farmers were worried as there was no substantial inflow during last fortnight Current storage sufficient for 12 days; heavy inflow has brought relief CHENNAI: Thanks to revival of monsoon, there has been a spurt in inflow into the Mettur reservoir. From a meagre 1,900 cusecs on Wednesday, it jumped to 10,000 cusecs on Thursday. The storage in the reservoir was just 19.7 thousand million cubic feet (tmcft) on Wednesday against the capacity of 93.4 tmcft. Delta farmers were a worried lot as there had been no substantial inflow during the last fortnight after the reservoir was opened for irrigation. The current storage is sufficient for 12 days, and the heavy inflow has brought relief. Public Works Department officials here say due to heavy rain in Medikeri, catchment of Krishnaraja Sagar, and Wynad in Kerala, the catchment of the Kabini dam, Karnataka reservoirs are receiving heavy inflow for the last five days. The combined storage of KRS, Kabini, Harangi and Hemavathy reservoirs on Thursday was 87 tmcft against the total capacity of 114 tmcft. The officials say in the last 15 days, the combined storage has improved from 64 tmcft to 87 tmcft. From Wednesday, Karnataka has been releasing substantial amount of water from the Kabini dam as its storage crossed 18.7 tmcft as against the capacity of 19.5 tmcft. The release was increased from 7,000 cusecs on Wednesday to 18,500 cusecs on Thursday. However, it reduced the release from KRS to 3,500 cusecs on Thursday as against 15,000 cusecs on Wednesday. The storage at KRS is 33.3 tmcft (capacity 45 tmcft). Officials here are hopeful that KRS will surplus soon as it has been receiving copious inflow from the Harangi and Hemavathi reservoirs. With a storage of 7.8 tmcft in the Harangi reservoir (capacity 8 tmcft), 10,000 cusecs is being released. However, in the Hemavathi dam, the storage is still 7 tmcft short of its capacity of 34 tmcft, and 4,000 cusecs is being released. Heavy rains forecast With the weatherman forecasting heavy rain in Karnataka and Kerala, officials hope that the inflow will increase further in the coming week. Tamil Nadu is entitled for 53 tmcft in June and July as per the interim order of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal. So far it has received only 11 tmcft. The deficit will be wiped if the current inflow sustains, the officials add.