After 13 years, the city’s four major reservoirs that cater to the drinking water needs will completely go dry this month.
As the dead storage in the city’s reservoirs will last for another 10 days, Chennai Metrowater will begin to draw water from abandoned quarries from Monday.
While the reservoirs in Poondi and Cholavaram are already bone dry, waterbodies in Red Hills and Chembarambakkam have a storage of 298 million cubic feet, which is only 3% of the total capacity of the reservoirs. This meagre water resource too is being pumped out through giant pumps.
At present, the city is being supplied with 470 million litres of water a day (mld) and of this, nearly 380 mld is being supplied through pipeline network. Metrowater officials are confident of managing the water supply at a minimum of 420 mld until the reservoirs are replenished with resources.
“We plan to draw 10 mld of water from quarries in Sikkarayapuram near Mangadu and gradually step up drawal to 30 mld. There are also plans to draw water from Porur lake from the second week of June,” said an official.
After several decades, nearly 30 defunct borewells in Neyveli mines have been rehabilitated. About 90 mld of water from borewells in Neyveli would be transmitted, through the Veeranam pipelines, to augment Chennai’s water requirement.
Moreover, about 60 mld of groundwater is sourced from agricultural wells in places such as Magaral and R.R. Kandigai falling under Tamaraipakkam and Poondi well fields belt. Metrowater’s well fields contribute to another 20 mld. “We can tap up to 100 mld from these 240 agricultural wells in Tiruvallur district. More water will be drawn depending on the needs,” the official said. Desalination plants in Minjur and Nemmeli that provide close to 190 mld help in fulfilling the requirement of north and south parts of the city.
Looking to the monsoon
Metrowater is also pinning its hopes on a good southwest monsoon to replenish resources in the dry Veeranam tank to sustain the water supply in the coming months. With the available resources, the water agency plans to manage the water supply for two more months.
