The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Kandaleru water reaches Zero Point at Uthukottai

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Nov 28, 2004

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Kandaleru water reaches Zero Point at Uthukottai

By K. Lakshmi

CHENNAI, NOV. 27. Chennai's hopes of coping with demand for water improved this evening when the much-awaited supply from the Kandaleru reservoir in Andhra Pradesh reached Zero Point (inter-State border) in Tamil Nadu.

Initially, 43.6 cubic feet of water per second (cusecs) was recorded at `Zero Point' near Uthukottai. The canal had some rainwater flows from neighbouring villages and the catchments in Andhra Pradesh.

Officials here expect that the realisation will increase to about 500 cusecs by tomorrow. One cusec means 28.31 litres of water.

"If the same amount (500 cusecs) continues to flow in, we would realise three tmcft in 45 days that would be enough for a year's supply," an official said.

The Kandaleru-Poondi canal has been wet for the past few days and about 33 cusecs of rainwater was recorded this morning. This proved favourable for quicker realisation of water along the Krishna canal, he said.

A team from the Krishna Water Project division (Public Works department), comprising the executive engineer, S.P. Chairman; the assistant executive engineer, C. Kalyana Sundaram; the area engineers A. Vijai and Radhakrishnan, inspected the flow at Zero Point.

Water was released from Kandaleru on Tuesday and it travelled 152 km before reaching Uthukottai. About 1,000 cusecs was being released from the dam from Thursday. At present it has a storage of 9.12 thousand million cubic feet (tmcft).

Another reason for hope among the officials here is that there has not been much of illegal tapping in both the States from the canal. There is no seepage or leakage from the canal as substantial portions of the Kandaleru-Poondi canal has been lined, thanks to the efforts of the Andhra Pradesh Government and financial support of Sri Sathya Sai Trust.

Unlike during release of water in the earlier years, there was no breach and illegal tapping was being monitored by both States and severe action would be taken, if required, said a Public Works department official.

The catchment areas of the Somasila and Kandaleru reservoirs did not receive much rainfall. However, as 75 tmcft was diverted from the Srisailam reservoir to Somasila, the level was built up in Kandaleru and released without pumping out water, the official explained.

The storage in the Srisailam reservoir, which was built up during the southwest monsoon, was being released into the Somasila and Kandaleru reservoirs.

Reports of rain in the catchments of Kandaleru have also raised hopes of steady realisation of water in Tamil Nadu limits. The water is expected to travel another 25 km from `Zero Point' to the Poondi reservoir by tomorrow morning.

Water would then be conveyed to Red Hills for treatment and distribution. Meanwhile, the city reservoirs also received good rains.

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