Every day, the volume of Krishna water that flows into the Poondi reservoir is increasing, but the storage largely remains the same as water is being drawn for the needs of Chennaiites.
The combined storage in the city reservoirs was at 4,865 mcft on Thursday, which is 43% of their capacity. This is because 14 mcft is being drawn daily from the reservoirs for drinking. The Krishna water is being used as a buffer to maintain the storage, which otherwise would have been exhausted in a few months, said officials of the Chennai Metrowater.
The Water Resources Department expects more water for the city in February as Andhra Pradesh has agreed to step up the discharge. On Thursday, nearly 2,700 cusecs were released from the Kandaleru reservoir. After catering to the irrigation and drinking water needs in the neighbouring State, nearly 330 cusecs were released to the Poondi reservoir.
“We have received about 520 million cubic feet of Krishna water since January 1. This is equal to 15 days of city water supply. As the Kandaleru reservoir is also getting water from the Somasila reservoir located upstream, we expect Chennai will be getting its share of Krishna water this time,” said an official of the WRD. If the Poondi reservoir receives 500 cusecs daily, the storage will rise by 1,000 mcft in a month.
Alternate day supply
Metrowater continues to supply 650 million litres on alternate days to manage the water requirement in summer. Officials of the agency said there were no plans to revert to a daily supply system or increase the volume of water supply to the previous 810 mld unless the position improves.
“We have stopped drawing from abandoned quarries as it is a costly option. Resources from the quarries in Sikkarayapuram will be used only during a crisis or depending on the demand in summer,” said an official.
Besides drawal from the reservoirs in Red Hills and Chembarambakkam and desalination plants, nearly 180 mld of water from the Veeranam tank in Cuddalore district is also being used.
The demand has been relatively less this winter. The mobile tanker supply has been reduced from nearly 7,000 to 5,300 trips a day. However, a number of lorries hired during the water crisis are still being operated, leading to complaints of traffic blockage in Valluvar Kottam.
