As storage at the Kandaleru reservoir came down to 8,200 mcft on Wednesday, the water released to Tamil Nadu through the Kandaleru-Poondi canal was reduced from 2,250 cusecs to 1,600 cusecs.
Due to this, there was a dip in the volume of Krishna water received at the inter-State entry point of the canal at Uthukottai, Tiruvallur district, on Wednesday.
“We are now getting nearly 505 cusecs at the inter-State border. We will continue to get the same volume for a few more days,” said an official. But the release of water to Chennai is likely to dip further in the next few days as storage levels in the reservoirs upstream in Andhra Pradesh are dismal, officials of the Water Resources Department said.
Chennai received nearly 610 cusecs of Krishna water a week ago but supply has been steadily dipping since then.
Water from the river passes through a distance of 152 km to reach Chennai, and also caters to the drinking water needs of Tirupati and Kalahasti enroute.
“We are monitoring the release of water and have asked Andhra Pradesh officials to consider Chennai’s water needs,” the official added. Poondi reservoir, which is the prime storage point for Krishna water, has received 1,900 mcft of water since January 1. This is equal to nearly 3-4 months of water supply at the present rate of 650 million litres a day.
Supply from Poondi
As storage at the Red Hills reservoir has come down, water from Poondi is being supplied since Tuesday.
The combined storage of the four city reservoirs stood at 5,094 mcft, which is 45% of their capacity. However, water managers are confident that the summer demand can be met with available resources.
