The city’s depleting water resources are likely to increase substantially over the next few days.
The much-awaited Krishna water from Kandaleru reservoir is set to reach Tamil Nadu in the early hours of Sunday.
Following TN’s recent request to increase the volume of Krishna water released to tide over drinking water shortage, it had been augmented on Friday evening.
Water released into the 152-km-long Kandaleru-Poondi canal had crossed 148 km by Saturday night and is expected to reach the inter-State border at Uthukottai in Tiruvallur district early on Sunday.
It has to travel another 25 km in Tamil Nadu before reaching Poondi reservoir where it will be stored for Chennai’s water needs.
Officials of the water resources department said about 2,500 cubic feet per second (cusecs) of Krishna water is being released from Kandaleru reservoir.
Discharge of Krishna water to Chennai had to be suspended last month to complete repair work on the damaged portion of Kandaleru-Poondi canal at Ubbalamadugu near Varadapalayam.
“Water has now crossed the stretch of canal near Ubbalamadugu. We expect to receive 500-600 cusecs at Poondi in a few days,” said an official.
Storage to increaseKrishna water will help to increase storage in the reservoirs that now have only 3,175 million cubic feet (mcft), which is just 30 per cent of their total capacity.
Last year, the combined storage of the reservoirs that cater to the city’s drinking water requirements was 5,360 mcft.
If the Poondi reservoir, which stores Krishna water, gets a steady inflow of 500 cusecs, its storage will go up by about 1,500 mcft in a month. At present, about 30 mcft is being drawn from the reservoirs to supply water to the city.
“A steady flow of Krishna water till May or June will help us manage the water crisis,” the official said.
