Water hyacinth being removed from the river near Vaigai dam at Andipatti in Theni district on Monday.
Lack of adequate water in the Vaigai dam due to poor rainfall and high mercury levels, the residents in Andipatti Town Panchayat have been going without potable water for the last 15 days.Thanks to the southwest monsoon becoming active, the Mullaperiyar dam has started receiving copious inflow, in the last two to three days, following which the discharge has increased and the Vaigai dam here is expected to get improved inflows.With this receipt of water, the Town Panchayat officials have started distributing 50 % of water to the integrated drinking water schemes in the jurisdiction. Slowly, this situation will improve, they added.Utilizing this opportunity, the officials led by its chairperson Pon Chandrakala have also begun removing water hyacinth in and around the recharge wells.“We have deployed bull dozers to remove the encroachments....” she told reporters on Monday.The Vaigai dam, which has a maximum storage level of 71 feet, had fallen to less than 20 ft causing panic among the public in the last 10 days. At a time, when the farmers’ in the region have been appealing to the government to allow them to lift the silt, the administration had not taken it seriously.Now, with the inflow improving, the storage level had risen from 20 ft to 23 ft. It is set to improve to higher levels since the southwest monsoon has become active.The Andipatti Town Pnachayat officials said that they would be able to normalise the water distribution in their area in the next two-three days and are also confident of removing the water hyacinth in and around the recharge wells soon. Published - June 08, 2026 06:38 pm IST
