Fifth reservoir for city likely by March-end

Officials said nearly 95% of the work has been completed

CHENNAI, 26/02/2020 : For City : The Water Resource Department would be all set and done with constructing Thervoy Kandigai Kannan Kottai the 5th reservoir at Gummidipoondi taluk, Tiruvallur district, storage capacity of about 1,000 million cubic feet of water and it would supply an additional 65MLD to Chennai, The fifth reservoir being created to cater to the drinking water requirements of the Chennai city, The 380 crore project which was launched by the then Chief Minister Jayalalithaa in September 2013. Photo: B. Jothi Ramalingam / The Hindu

The project to create a fifth reservoir in Thervoy Kandigai Kannankottai to improve the city’s drinking water supply is approaching its final deadline.

The newly-formed reservoir already has water stagnant in some portions. The Water Resources Department (WRD) is confident of storing water during next northeast monsoon.

The ₹380-crore project was launched in 2013 to link two waterbodies in Thervoy Kandigai and Kannankottai villages in Tiruvallur district to form a reservoir.

Chennai gets a large portion of its water supply from reservoirs in Poondi, Red Hills, Cholavaram and Chembarambakkam.

Work to form the reservoir to cater to Chennai’s growing water needs is likely to be completed by March-end. WRD officials said that nearly 95% of the work had been completed.

The formation of a bund is the major component of the project. Of the 7.15-km-long bund, only 150 m remains to be created in Kannankottai.

A portion of a road connecting Kannankottai with Karadiputhur had to be closed for the construction of the reservoir bund.

“We had to create an alternate road, through Thervoy Kandigai, to Karadiputhur, and a bridge. Because of this, it took some time to finish the bund construction,” said an official.

The work also included the construction of a 8.6-km channel to intercept the Kandaleru Poondi canal and bring water to the reservoir.

Pipeline work

Chennai Metrowater has also completed work on laying a 66-km pipeline to convey water from the reservoir to the one in Poondi.

The pipeline will be linked to the Kandaleru Poondi canal that brings in Krishna water.

“We have also created a channel that will divert surplus floodwater from the reservoir. It will help fill 11 tanks, like the one in Poovalambedu lake in Tiruvallur district,” the official said.

The last step of the project will be to desilt and deepen the reservoir. This could increase its storage from the initial 500 million cubic feet of water, planned by the Department.

Compensation to 800 landowners have almost been settled. Efforts are being taken through the Tiruvallur Collectorate to settle an interest amount of ₹37 crore to the landowners, said officials.