Two days after Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam appealed to his Andhra Pradesh counterpart N. Chandrababu Naidu, the release of water from the Kandaleru reservoir, which is about 180 km from here, commenced on Monday afternoon.
Officials in the Public Works and Municipal Administration and Water Supply departments say initially, the AP authorities are releasing 500 cubic feet per second (cusecs). This would be stepped up to ensure that Tamil Nadu would realise 500 cusecs at its border.
The initial flows are expected to reach the State border by the end of this week, they add.
The officials expect that the State will get at least two thousand million cubic feet (tmc ft), even though there is no specific assurance from the neighbouring State.
As on date, the storage of the city reservoirs was around 1.5 tmc ft against the total capacity of the reservoirs of 11.057 tmc ft. Chennai Metrowater has reduced the supply level from 830 Million Litres Per Day (MLD) to 550 MLD and it hopes to maintain the supply in the event of realising two tmc ft from Andhra Pradesh.
Krishna water will come as a relief to a State that is struggling with drought conditions, and for Chennai, scrambling to meet the drinking water requirements of its residents, it is very good news indeed.
