Farmers say foul smell emanates from water being released from Kelavarapalli dam in Krishnagiri district

KRISHNAGIRI: Farmers have expressed their concerns about a foul smell emanating from the water being released from the Kelavarapalli dam near Hosur in Krishnagiri district. They said there was a formation of white foams on the water.
On Monday, officials started releasing water from the dam for irrigation when the water level reached 41 feet due to heavy rain in the catchment areas of the Thenpennai river in Karnataka. The inflow to the dam was 231 cubic feet on Tuesday. The total capacity of the dam is 44.28 feet.
Farmers said untreated water was being released from the dam. The Thenpennai river carries chemical wastewater being discharged into it by private factories on its banks in Karnataka, leading to formation foams on the water.
“The water being released from the dam has had a strong odour, for the second day today,” said M Saminathan, a farmer in Kelavarapalli. He said foams rose to several feet high when water was discharged into the left and right canals of the dam.

Farmers urged the authorities to address this issue immediately.