How Thiruvananthapuram’s dams are faring after recent monsoon showers

Across the world, many dams are being dismantled to allow rivers to regain their natural course. But they are, no doubt, architectural marvels and feats of human engineering that hold at bay the enormity and the sheer force of nature. But even to the casual observer, it is indeed a spectacle, especially during the rain. It evokes beauty, poetry and even peace.,

It is all a tranquil scene till the rain picks up force and the skies start pouring sheets of water. The roar of the waterfall when the shutters are raised to let out the stress caused by the water volume creates, no doubt, an inexplicable fear of elements even in those minds that have seen the dam in its peaceful times.

Last week, as rains lashed Thiruvananthapuram, the scene was quite similar when all three major dams in the district swelled to a near-fiery level. In calmer times, the waters flowing from Peppara, Aruvikkara and Neyyar seem placid, in submission to the human will, and ready to cascade downstream to irrigate, to nurture and to enliven.