While heavy rains have pounded the city’s roads to pot-holed strips, the effect on the four reservoirs that contribute to the city’s water supply can be rejoiced. Levels went up by nearly 1,500 million cubic feet (mcft) over the past six days. This is equivalent to almost two months’ water supply to Chennai.
The reservoir in Chembarambakkam received the highest inflow of 1,116 cubic feet per second (cusecs). It registered a rainfall of 27 mm during the 24 hours ending 6 a.m. on Tuesday. Other reservoirs too are receiving good inflow following the torrential rain in their catchments.
Metro water officials said the cumulative storage level of the reservoirs as on Tuesday morning was 4,880 mcft against the capacity of 11,057 mcft. The four water bodies recorded an additional storage of 275 million cubic feet (mcft) on Tuesday alone.
Though there has been considerable rise in the water level in the reservoirs, only 44 per cent of storage space has been filled so far, they said. Last year, their combined storage level during the same period was 6,151 mcft. Since water bodies get inflow from catchments even a day or two after the rain, officials hope storage would increase in the coming days. The Poondi reservoir continues to receive water from the Kandaleru reservoir in Andhra Pradesh. The discharge from the Kandaleru reservoir has been reduced from 2,000 cusecs to 1,000 cusecs now in the wake of the rain.
“We have realised 2,200 mcft of water from the reservoir upstream since September 15. We aim to receive at least 6,000 mcft to fill up the reservoirs,” an official said.
There has been a steady increase in the storage of the Veeranam tank, which supplies 180 million litres a day (mld), to the city. The level stood at 43.5 feet against the full capacity of 45 feet on Tuesday. Officials of the Water Resources Department said the surplus water was being released to downstream water bodies.
