Inauguration of the Mettur Dam and Reservoir

Abstract

THE development of irrigation in India has taken another notable step forward with the recent completion of the Mettur Dam in the province of Madras, and the occasion of the official opening on August 21 was marked by an impressive ceremony when Sir George Stanley, the Governor of Madras, made the electrical contact which operated the sluice penstocks and released a huge volume of water from the impounded area. The dam and reservoir, which are to take the designation “Stanley”, are located on the Cauvery River, 100 miles north-west of Trichino-poly and 180 miles south-west of Madras. The dam, one of the most massive structures of its kind in the world, contains 1,852,000 cubic yards of masonry weighing 3,200,000 tons; it has an over-all length of 5,300 ft., and a height of 176 ft. The reservoir will extend more than 40 miles north of the river, with a circumference of about 100 miles, and will have a capacity of 90,000,000,000 cub. ft. The catchment area is 15,700 square miles in extent and the total area to be irrigated will be rather more than 1,300,000 acres, including some 300,000 acres at present without any form of irrigation. Pipes have been built into the dam to permit of the utilisation of some of the water for the generation of hydroelectric power in a scheme which is now under consideration by the Secretary of State. The cost of the Cauvery-Mettur undertaking is given as about 5 ½ million sterling. The idea was conceived about a century ago by Sir Arthur Cotton, but work was not begun until 1925 and benefited by the experience gained during the unprecedented floods of the previous year, which caused a revision and extension of the scheme. For his services in connexion with the work, Mr. Clement T. Mullings, who was chief engineer of the project from 1927 until 1931, has received the honour of knighthood.