The city’s residents may have to wait for a few more days for improved water supply.
The release of Krishna water to Chennai was reduced after work was taken up last week to plug a leak in the channel created temporarily, adjacent to the Kandaleru Poondi canal Ubbalamagudu in Andhra Pradesh. Though the work has been completed, an increased discharge of Krishna water is yet to reach the Poondi reservoir, where the water is stored.
Andhra Pradesh authorities have increased the discharge of Krishna water into the 152-km-long Kandaleru Poondi canal since Monday. Officials of Water Resources Department said about 100-150 cubic feet per second of water (cusecs) are expected to be realised at Poondi by Friday.
“We expect the discharge will be increased gradually. A portion of Krishna water will be diverted to Tirupati and Kalahasti for their drinking water needs. If 500 cusecs is released from the reservoir in Andhra Pradesh, the water body in Poondi will get about 350 cusecs. This will be enough to maintain the drinking water supply for the city,” said an official.
At present, the Poondi reservoir has storage of 176 million cubic feet against a capacity of 3,231 mcft. Officials said rains had also brought some inflow into the reservoirs. As of now, the storage in Poondi reservoir would be stepped up, officials said. Once a steady inflow of Krishna water is realised, water would be discharged to the Red Hills reservoir to enable drawal for the city’s drinking water needs.