Krishna water is expected to be released from the Kandaleru reservoir in Andhra Pradesh next weekend, to augment the city’s water storage. The water will reach the city on or after January 14.
This comes at a time when there are concerns about poor storage levels at the end of a bleak northeast monsoon, and the possibility of drinking water being scarce this year.
Repair work along a damaged stretch near Ubbalamagudu in the AP section of the Kandaleru-Poondi canal, which has been carried out for nearly a year now, is nearing completion.
On Thursday, a team of officials from the Water Resources Department (WRD) and Chennai Metrowater reviewed the ongoing work and also discussed the need to increase Krishna water discharge to the city.
WRD officials said that initially, about 500 cubic feet per second (cusecs) of water is likely to be released from the Kandaleru reservoir to Chennai until the end of May at least. One cusec is equal to 28.3 litres of water per second.
This is expected to be gradually increased to the canal’s maximum carrying capacity of 1,000 cusecs.
“We are confident that we will be able to manage the summer demand with Krishna water. AP officials have said 8,000 million cubic feet (mcft) will be supplied over four months,” said an official.
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. This would be a boost to the city’s reservoirs that now have a total storage of only 3,316 mcft, which is only 30 per cent of their capacity.
Another official said AP officials have also assured the team from Chennai that patrolling along the Kandaleru-Poondi canal would be strengthened to control illegal tapping of water.
At present, Chennai gets piped water supply on alternate days. This can be upgraded to daily supply only when the storage at the reservoirs is at 8,000 mcft, an official said.
