The availability of water resources for the city’s supply is set to improve as Chennai Metrowater is looking forward to drawing water from Veeranam tank in a few weeks. The water body in Cuddalore district is expected to get inflow in about 10 days.
The tank, which is bone dry now, may begin to get inflow as water released from Mettur for irrigation is soon to reach the Veeranam tank through Coleroon and Vadavar channel.
Officials of the Water Resources Department (WRD) said about 2,000 cusecs has been released into Coleroon from Grand Anicut and water has to travel nearly 22 km through Vadavar channel to reach Veeranam tank.
As the tank with a capacity of 1,456 million cubic feet is dry, Metrowater is drawing 80 million litres a day (mld) from well fields in Paravanar river belt.
The water agency, which is purchasing 90 mld of water from agricultural wells hired in Tiruvallur district, also hopes to decrease drawal as the storage in city reservoirs is slowly on the rise. “We plan to reduce drawal from other sources when the storage in main reservoirs begin to build up,” said a Metrowater official.
Inflow into Poondi up
Even as the city awaits release of Krishna water from the parched Kandaleru reservoir, Poondi reservoir, the city’s prime storage reservoir, has started receiving inflow from other sources in Andhra Pradesh.
On Friday, the water body received an inflow of nearly 500 cusecs. In what is a repeat of last year, Poondi reservoir received inflow from the Nagari river, a tributary of Kosasthalaiyar river that originates in Andhra Pradesh. The combined storage of four city reservoirs stood at 944 mcft against 11,057 mcft.
Officials of the WRD said incessant showers over reservoirs upstream in Chittoor district in Andhra Pradesh have brought in increased flow into the rivers on the Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu border. “Water is being discharged periodically into the Nagari river from Ammapalli dam located upstream. We have given flood alert to few areas downstream of Pallipattu in Tamil Nadu as the causeways may get flooded,” said an official.
Rain may continue
Meanwhile, more rain is expected in the State, particularly in the southern parts.
The Meteorological Department said the cyclonic circulation over Southeast Bay of Bengal may influence rainfall over many places till Monday. It may be heavy in one or two places. Chennai may continue to enjoy cloudy skies and light showers till Monday.
