Chennai, May 16 (IANS): As the Mettur dam in Tamil Nadu has comfortable storage levels, it is likely to be opened on June 12, officials said.

However, sources in the Tamil Nadu Water Works Department told IANS that the opening of the dam may be advanced by a few days.

On May 16, the storage of the dam was around 70 thousan million cubic feet (tmc ft). This figure is short of 6 million cubic feet when compared to the same day of the previous year.

The total capacity of the dam is 93.47 tmc feet. With the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) predicting a normal to above normal rainfall in several areas of the peninsular region, the opening of the Mettur dam may be advanced by a few days. Normally the southwest monsoon is active in June-September and this could lead to rains in some parts of the region.

For the past three years the northeast monsoon has also been providing ample water to Tamil Nadu and the state Department of Groundwater is not worried in opening the Mettur dam a few days in advance also.