The Mettur level has increased "substantially" in the last four days, thanks to the inflow of water from the Kabini reservoir, but it is nowhere near the desired quantum for opening up the sluices for the Kuruvai cultivation. "The inflow is 28,181 cusecs and 900 cusecs is discharged from the dam. We hope the inflow will be sustained for the next three days and the water level is likely to go up to 63 ft. Unless the level reaches 90 ft, we cannot open the dam," said Mr A. Vasanthan, assistant engineer at the Mettur dam. On Sunday, the water storage at the dam was 22.432 tmc ft (thousand million cubic feet) against the total capacity of 93.50 tmc ft. The water storage will reach the desired level only if the water from KRS reservoir in Karnataka is released. The storage position in KRS is 23 TMC ft against the total capacity of 49 TMC ft. Karnataka will release water only when the storage position reaches 30 TMC ft.