The Water Resources Department has accelerated the process to create a reservoir at Ramanjeri, located upstream of the Poondi reservoir in Tiruvallur, to augment drinking water sources in Chennai.
Creation of a reservoir in Ramanjeri is one of the long-discussed proposals. Spread over an area of nearly 9.20 square kilometre, it will be the sixth reservoir in Tiruvallur to meet the rapidly growing metropolis’ water needs.
The new reservoir across Nagari river will store 1.2 thousand million cubic feet (tmcft) and its surplus will be diverted to the Poondi reservoir. The maximum flood discharge has been estimated to be nearly 98,000 cusecs (cubic feet per second).
Chief Secretary V. Irai Anbu, who inspected the site on Sunday, instructed the Water Resources Department (WRD) officials to submit a detailed project report to the government soon. Citing the Singapore model, which has multiplied its reservoirs over the past four decades, he stressed the necessity to create additional waterbodies to meet the city’s requirements.
Officials of the WRD said the reservoir would also act as a balancing reservoir to conserve flood water runoff and help mitigate waterlogging in the lower reaches of Kosasthalaiyar river. Of the estimated nearly 830 hectares, water will be spread over 180 hectares. Nearly 650 hectares of dry irrigation land need to be acquired for the project.
Nearly half of the total project cost of ₹850 crore has been set aside for land acquisition, the officials added.
It may be recalled that last year, nearly 32 tmcft of surplus water was released from the Poondi reservoir alone following heavy inflow and only 20% of the resources were conserved in checkdams and other lakes downstream due to lack of sufficient storage facilities.
