Water Resources Department initiates measures for desilting Amaravathy Dam after a gap of decades

The Water Resources Department is learnt to have drawn up an estimate of minimum expenditure on overheads for arriving at the 'revenue model' through selling the sediment in the Amaravathy Dam, in order to scale up the storage limit.
The expenditure would be towards constructing the road till the location in the dam from where the sediment with high fertility value could be removed.
Since the dam is located in the reserve forest area, the demand for the nutrient-rich sediment formed by the foliage washed down by jungle streams for decades will be quite high, according to officials.
The current storage capacity of the dam is 4.047 tmc.
'With agricultural yields dropping down in large measures due to excessive use of fertilisers, enriching the soil with natural nutrients is the only way for farmers to sustain their livelihood,' Jegadeesh, a nature farmer belonging to Udumalpet said.
The Water and Power Consultancy Services Limited (WAPCOS) has prepared a report based on which the department will be readying a Detailed Project Report through a consultant, a senior official of Water Resources Department said.
An analysis by the department during 2017 indicated that the waterspread area had 22.8 million cubic metre of silt. The Tiruppur district administration had then notified removal of 1,31,400 cubic metre of silt in the first phase.
The initiative to desilt the dam was taken in 2014, but had to be shelved due to intervention by the National Green Tribunal. The contention of the department was that new approval would not be necessary as desilting of the dam could be categorised under maintenance work and not any new project. But, it was not accepted by the National Green Tribunal.
The consultancy appointed now for preparing the DPR has been entrusted with the responsibility of securing environmental approval, official sources added.

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