Flood threat looms in South Karnataka as dams on Cauvery river approach full storage capacity

The Cauvery Neeravari Nigam Limited, in its warning message, has advised people residing on both sides of the river and in low-lying areas to move to safer locations as surplus water from the KRS dam will be released downstream. As the water level at the dam was reaching its full storage level, “there is a likelihood of releasing surplus water varying from 15,000 to 30,000 cusecs and this may be increased at any moment,” it said.

KRS, which supplies water to Bengaluru, has received a total inflow of over 12 thousand million cubic feet (TMC) of water over the past week, with the current water level in the dam at 120.78 feet holding 44.04 TMC. On June 18, the gross storage at the dam was 31.32 TMC. During the same date last year, KRS had 14.59 TMC of water, around a third of its current storage.

The India Meteorological Department has issued a yellow alert to Karnataka until June 27, due to which heavy inflow of water to dams in the state is expected to continue. Due to the combined effects of heavy pre-monsoon showers in May and the onset of early monsoon, there were chances of KRS getting filled in June itself. Usually, the KRS dam fills up during late July or early August.

Large dams across the River Krishna in North Karnataka, too, were receiving high inflows. The gross storage at Almatti dam was at 76.58 TMC, compared to 31.03 TMC on the same date last year. As of Tuesday morning, the dam was receiving an inflow of 83,426 cusecs, with dam authorities maintaining an outflow of 67,000 cusecs.

The four dams in the Cauvery basin currently have a combined storage of 97.51 TMC against a maximum storage of 114.57 TMC, compared to 37.96 TMC last year. Similarly, the six dams in the Krishna basin were holding 221.65 TMC water against a full capacity of 422.45 TMC. On the same date last year, the storage was 87.55 TMC.