Chennai may not face any major water scarcity this year as the Poondi reservoir, prime source of drinking water for the city, has been getting a steady inflow in the past few days, thanks to the release of Krishna water by Andhra Pradesh and rain in the region.
Officials of the Water Resources Department (WRD) said this would help in filling up the major reservoirs. The State has received 349 million cubic feet of Krishna water since May 8. This is equal to about 10 days’ supply in the city at the current rate of 1,043 million litres a day (mld).
On Monday, Uthukottai, the entry point of Krishna water in the Kandaleru-Poondi (KP) canal in the State, recorded an inflow of about 630 cusecs. There was an inflow of another 100 cusecs of rainwater. Of this, nearly 610 cusecs of water flowed 25 km and reached Poondi reservoir from where it is being diverted to Red Hills and Chembarambakkam.
Officials of the WRD said the water stagnated for about six inches in the KP canal bed, except for a 10-km dry stretch. The water table had risen following a good northeast monsoon last year and this facilitated quicker flow in the canal.
N. Thilaikarasi, Executive Engineer (Krishna Water Supply Project), said: “If we receive 600 cusecs daily on an average, the city will receive 1.6 tmcft. of Krishna water every month. We will be able to sustain the daily water supply till early next year even if there is deficient rain in the ensuing monsoon.”
The five reservoirs have a combined storage of 7.31 tmcft, which is 62% of the storage capacity. The WRD has sought water release till early September. This is expected to stabilise the storage and sustain supply to Chennai until January next year when a fresh request would be made to Andhra Pradesh to release Krishna water, Ms. Thilaikarasi added.
