Request for Krishna water

Supply of water from Kandaleru reservoir in Andhra Pradesh to Chennai was suspended a few days ago as the city’s share of water had been completely discharged.

With just one spell of Krishna water released between January and April over, the Water Resources Department is in the process of sending a request to the Andhra Pradesh government to discharge water for the next spell, in July.

Supply of water from Kandaleru reservoir in Andhra Pradesh to Chennai was suspended a few days ago as the city’s share of water had been completely discharged.

As per the agreement between the two States, Chennai must be provided with 12,000 million cubic feet of water in two spells every year. Though Krishna water supply has been stopped, the department is confident the storage in the four city reservoirs will last four months. Moreover, Chennai’s water supply can be augmented with resources from Veeranam tank in Cuddalore district.

The city was supplied with about 3,800 million cubic feet of water between January and May. Officials of the WRD said the Andhra Pradesh authorities had extended water supply for one more month in view of the demand from Chennai.

This is equal to five months’ water supply at the present rate of 610 million litres supplied on alternate days.

The State government will continue to liaison with Andhra Pradesh for water needs and a team of officials is also expected to travel to the neighbouring State later this month seeking discharge of Krishna water.