Here’s some good news for water-starved Chennaiites. Release of Krishna water from Andhra Pradesh is likely to resume in June.
The discharge of water from Kandaleru reservoir in Andhra Pradesh was suspended in April in order to carry out repairs on the damaged portion of the Kandaleru-Poondi canal in Ubbalamadugu, Andhra Pradesh.
According to the water resources department (WRD), a team of officials from both States had been conducting weekly joint inspections of the repair work.
Meanwhile, residents in some parts of the city said water supply had decreased over the past few days. R. Sundari of Mogappair said, “We usually receive water through the pipeline for four hours. It has now reduced to two-three hours every day.” Some residents they had not received water supply for several months.
However, WRD officials said the city could bank on the storage in the reservoirs for daily supply of water until July. At present, the water bodies in Poondi, Red Hills, Cholavaram and Chembarambakkam have just 30 per cent of storage. Some rains are expected in May to help tide over loss due to evaporation.
An official of Chennai Metrowater said the department was installing more tanks and digging borewells to meet the demand.
According to a WRD official, in the past year, Chennai had received 4.7 thousand million cubic feet (tmcft) of water, enough to meet the requirement of the city for four months.
“We could get Krishna water for a few more months as Kandaleru reservoir can spare five tmcft for Chennai,” the official said.
Meanwhile, the WRD proposes to begin work on desilting Veeranam tank, a water source that has gone nearly bone-dry. Work to restore the original storage capacity of the tank is being undertaken after nearly a decade.
