Farmers hope discharge of Cauvery water from Mettur will be stepped up ahead of Aadi Perukku

A large number of people throng the Cauvery to take a holy dip during the Aadi Perukku festival in the delta districts. | Photo Credit: FILE PHOTO With the yield from the city’s drinking water sources on the Cauvery and Kollidam riverbeds coming down in recent days, water managers of the city are hoping that the State government will order stepping up of the discharge from the Stanley Reservoir in Mettur to give a much-needed wetting to the dry riverbed ahead of the Aadi Perukku festival.The absence of flow in the river since January-end has resulted in a drop in the yield from the city’s water sources on the two rivers.The Tiruchi Corporation draws about 167 million litres a day (MLD) from the riverbeds. In recent days, the yield from the water sources had come down by about 10-12 MLD, sources in the civic body said.Water supply had been restricted to once-a-day instead of twice a day in Srirangam. The civic body is planning to sink additional borewells on riverbeds to overcome the shortage. It would be forced to restrict water supply to alternative days in the city if the situation worsened in August, the sources said.Although the Water Resources Department had been releasing about 1,000 cusecs of water from the Mettur dam to meet the drinking water requirements, the flow is hardly realised in the rivers here, they say. “The collector wells on the riverbed need a wetting badly. The release of just 1,000 cusecs does not serve the purpose as the water flow here is too meagre. The quantum of the discharge should at least be doubled,” an elected representative of the civic body said.Farmers had been demanding release of 3,000 cusecs to meet the drinking water requirements in view of the sharp fall in the water table. “The WRD has to step up the discharge to at least 3,000 cusecs as drought-like conditions prevail along the river, causing shortage of water for humans and cattle,” said R. Subramanian, deputy secretary, Cauvery Delta Farmers’ Welfare Association.The absence of flow in the river would dampen the spirit of Aadi Perukku festivities on August 3. Residents normally throng the river for having a holy dip in the Cauvery right across the delta. “Since the riverbeds are heavily exploited for drinking water, we hope the quantum of discharge would be increased ahead of Aadi Perukku,” said Suresh Venkatachalam, president, Srirangam Nagara Nala Sangam.“The WRD could release at least 3,000 cusecs with the available storage at Mettur in view of the situation along the Cauvery downstream. The water released now is not adequate and only stagnates here and there. The WRD should build korambu (sand bunds) to guide the water flow on the river bed,” said K. Ramakrishnan, a resident of Panamangalam and founder, MGR Nalpani Mandram. Published - July 30, 2026 08:34 pm IST