CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin will be meeting Kerala Chief Minister  Pinarayi Vijayan on Friday, September 2, in Thiruvananthapuram. 

Stalin is reaching Kerala to partake in the South Indian Chief Ministers' meet, which is also being attended by Union Home Minister Amit Shah. The talks between the two counterparts will mainly focus around Siruvani and Mullaperiyar water-sharing issues.

Notably, the Siruvani dam,  located inside a dense forest in Kerala's Palakkad district, is a significant source of drinking water for the residents of Tamil Nadu's Coimbatore district.

The state water resources department has been keeping water levels below the Full Reservoir Level during the 2019 floods in Kerala. Since 2019, the Kerala Irrigation Department has kept Siruvani Dam's water level at 44 feet instead of the 49.5 feet that Kerala and Tamil Nadu had agreed upon.

A five-foot drop in water level will result in a 122.05 million cubic feet. shortfall, or 19% of the dam's storage capacity.
Following incessant rain in the dam's catchment areas, the water level in Siruvani Dam has increased. On Thursday, the water level in Siruvani reached 43.5 ft, and Coimbatore receives 101.4 MLD of water from Siruvani. However, the water will be released once it reaches 44 feet.

Officials from the Kerala Irrigation Department will release water from the dam once it reaches the 44-foot mark, citing safety concerns. In this context, the Palakkad collector has been meeting with officials every day. The government has already received all of our reports on the subject, and the CM will discuss the storage of water in the Siruvani and Mullaiperiyar dams, according to TWAD board sources.

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