Improved storage in the four reservoirs of Chennai may become a reality as a project to remove silt is likely to commence in May or June this year .
The Water Resources Department has submitted a detailed project report to the State government to remove the silt deposited for several decades in the lakes. The four reservoirs are spread over a total area of 21,000 acres.
It will be a three-year project as desilting operation can be done only during five months in a year when the water level is relatively low. There are restrictions on the volume of silt that could be removed and transported, said an official.
Revenue boost
The department expects to remove up to seven feet, or 5.39 crore cubic metres, of silt from the reservoirs. Once the project is completed, the original storage capacity of the lakes, which is nearly 11,000 million cubic feet, would be restored. The project is also expected to bring a revenue of about ₹640 crore to the department through the sale of savudu soil.
With the Krishna water supply steadily falling, the reservoirs have a total storage of 5,086 million cubic feet, which is nearly 45% of their capacity as on Monday.
Among the four reservoirs, the one in Poondi was the last to be created across the Kosasthalaiyar river in 1944. While the water bodies in Cholavaram and Red Hills were built around 1876-1877, the Chembarambakkam is the oldest and was laid during the Pallava period, according to WRD data.
