Due to very
heavy rainfall during the month of September in upper catchment of the river
Ponnaiyar in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, the Krishnagiri dam attained its FRL
in September 2017 and started releasing water downstream. Due to this, the
downstream reservoirs also got sufficient inflow and Sathanur Dam was very near
its Full Reservoir Level. In such situation, on 29th November 2017,
one of the shutters of the Krishnagiri dam got damaged and water started
flowing through the damaged shutter. The project authorities and the district
authorities have also opened additional spillway to avoid pressure on the
damaged shutter. The district authorities had also warned all the downstream
districts regarding the situation arising out of the damage to shutter. The
information was analysed in Central Water Commission (CWC) with the available
data as well as data collected from Project authorities. Accordingly, it was
found that since 29th November 2017 0600 hrs an average outflow of
170 cumec (6000 cusec) flowed through the spillway of Krishnagiri dam due to
the damage. There is also an inflow of about 10 cumec (350 cusec) into the
reservoir. This reduced the water level by 1.2 m. Size of the spillway gate is
12.19X610 m. The height of the spillway is 6 m accordingly, if the same amount
of discharge is maintained then it may take about 96 hours for the water to
come down upto crest level of spillway. Since the water level has started
falling in the reservoir, there is likelihood of reduction in discharge passing
through shutter slowly every day. Accordingly, CWC infers that the peak of the
flow has already passed through the damaged gate as well as through spillway
discharge and there will be gradual reduction in outflow as the reservoir level
reduces.

Sathanur Dam is
downstream of Krishnagiri Dam. As the Sathanur dam was already near its FRL,
anticipating the flow from the damaged shutter of Krishnagiri reservoir,
Sathanur Project authorities started releasing water from 29th
November 2017 evening. The average discharge since 29th November was
approximately 64 cumec (2260 cumec). This has reduced the reservoir levels at
Sathanur Dam by about 0.30 m. The available flood cushion at Sathanur Dam as on
30th November 2017 is 16 MCM (566 Mcft). The inflow likely to come
during the next 96 hours with a constant discharge of around 170 cumec (6000
cusec) from upstream dam may be around 57 MCM(2073 Mcft). This means that
Sathanur dam may have to release around 170 cumec (6000 cusec) for the next 4
days to keep the dam level around FRL and at the same time, there may not be
any downstream problems. This is in the backdrop of a situation in which a
cyclonic storm has formed in Comorin area which is giving widespread rainfall
in Tamilnadu and the expected development of another cyclonic storm around 4th
December 2017. The impact of intervening catchment area rainfall will have to
be monitored very closely. The IMD Chennai Forecast for Ponnaiyar basin for the
next 3 days is as under:
Considering a
rainfall of 26-50 mm on Day 2 i.e. between 2nd and 3rd
December 2017, there may be a chance of increasing the discharge to around 250
cumec (8800 cusec) on 2nd and 3rd December 2017. The CWC
Gauge and Discharge Station at Vazhavachanur which is 22 km downstream of
Sathanur dam have started showing the impact of release from Sathanur dam.
During the last 12 hours from 29th November 2017 2100 hrs to 30th
November 2017 0900 hrs there is a rise in water level of 1.25 m with an average
flow of around 135 cumec. This will also be reflected at Villupuram another CWC
maintained Gauge Station on river Ponnaiyar in another 12 hours. If the
discharge is increased to 250 cumec in association with rainfall further rise
of about another 0.5 to 0.6 m may also be witnessed at these stations for another
96 hours. In the downstream course near the confluence with seas near Cuddalore
town, there may be effect of high tide due to full moon also as well as effect
of Cyclonic storm which is likely to hinder the flow into the sea and there may
be some inundation depending on the tide conditions near the confluence.
If there is no further aggravation in
the damage caused to the Krishnagiri dam, the peak flow from the dam to
downstream has already passed through the damaged spillway and there will be
reduction in outflow. However, the effect of rainfall in Karnataka area if any
in association with Cyclonic Storm “Okchi” is to be monitored closely. The
inflow to Sathanur Dam will be mostly moderated around the outflow from
Krishnagiri dam other than that through the intervening catchment rainfall. The
forecast of rainfall for 2nd to 3rd December 2017 is
around 25-50 mm in this area which may increase the inflow into the dam
prompting more release which should be very carefully monitored. In the
downstream of Sathanur dam as well as near the confluence with seas, the effect
of the releases from Sathanur as well as the tidal effect from sea have to be
monitored carefully as well as local rainfall in association with another
brewing system in the Bay of Bengal has to be monitored. There should be very
close monitoring of the entire Ponnaiyar system for the next 5-7 days for the
entire system in view of the likely development of severe rainfall producing
systems.
The Krishnagiri
reservoir was constructed across the Ponnaiyar River near Periyamuthur village
about 10 km from Krishnagiri town in Krishnagiri district, Tamil Nadu. It is
located at the latitude of 12º 28' North and the longitude of 78º 11' East. The
execution of the KRP dam was started on Mar 1955, completed and opened for
irrigation on Nov 1957. The Gross Storage capacity of the reservoir is 47.156
MCM. The Sathanur Dam was completed during the year 1957 near Thiruvannamalai
town in Thiruvannamalai district of Tamilnadu. It is located at 12O 12’
N and 78O 35’ 30” E. The Gross Storage capacity is 228.91 MCM. CWC
has started inflow forecasting activities at Sathanur Dam from 2017 North East
Monsoon season onwards. The intervening catchment between Krishnagiri Dam and
Sathanur Dam is about 2,000 sq.km. Distance between the two dams is 117 km.
Samir/jk