With the flow of Krishna water to Chennai becoming increasingly inconsistent, the Tamil Nadu Water Resources Department has written to its counterpart in Andhra Pradesh to maintain flow from Kandaleru reservoir until April to cater to the city’s drinking water needs this summer.
On Thursday, the State’s entry point at the Kandaleru-Poondi canal received 266 cusecs (cubic feet per second) of Krishna water, which was stored in Poondi reservoir and then transferred to Chembarambakkam lake, the largest of the city’s drinking water sources.
Since September 28 last year, Chennai has received about 6,000 million cubic feet (mcft) of Krishna water. This, along with rains during the northeast monsoon, has helped build storage in the four reservoirs, including Poondi and Red Hills. At present, the combined storage of the city reservoirs stands at 6,229 mcft against a capacity of 11,257 mcft.
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WRD officials said that there was no dip in water being discharged from the Kandaleru reservoir in A.P. On an average, about 1,700 cusecs was being released from the reservoir upstream. However, there was a fluctuation in the Krishna water flowing into the State. Water was being drawn through sluices to fill up tanks en route for irrigation and other purposes, officials said.
“We have written to the A.P. authorities to provide about 3,000 mcft and continue water release for the second spell till April. We are yet to receive a reply. Water discharge has not been stopped from Kandaleru reservoir,” an official said.
Chennai’s drinking water supply would be continued at the present rate of 650 million litres a day till the next northeast monsoon with the available resources in the lakes. Veeranam tank in Cuddalore district, which augments city water supply, also has a storage of 1,389 mcft against its capacity of 1,465 mcft.
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