There has been a sharp decline in the flow of Krishna water from Andhra Pradesh through the Kandaleru Poondi canal for the past few days. However, the Water Resources Department (WRD) said Andhra Pradesh officials have assured it of continued supply all through this year.
On Thursday, the Poondi reservoir, where Krishna water is stored, received 265 cusecs (cubic feet per second). The city has so far received 2,535 million cubic feet (mcft) of Krishna water discharged from the Kandaleru reservoir in Andhra Pradesh since mid-September.
WRD officials said the decision to gradually decrease the discharge to Chennai was taken because of the irrigation needs of Andhra Pradesh and the onset of the northeast monsoon over Tamil Nadu.
“Water released from the Kandaleru reservoir is diverted to tanks all along for irrigation in Andhra Pradesh. There is a minimum of nine branch canals. Water is also let out through the outlets of the Kandaleru Poondi canal. The dip in Krishna water supply is only temporary,” said an official.
At a meeting in August, Andhra Pradesh officials assured their Tamil Nadu counterparts of 4,000 mcft for Chennai over two months. “We expect the inflow to gradually increase after November 15. The Andhra Pradesh authorities have promised to continue supply,” the official said.
As on Thursday, Chennai’s four drinking water reservoirs had a storage of 6,199 mcft, nearly 55% of their total capacity of 11,257 mcft. On the same day last year, the combined storage of these reservoirs was 2,982 mcft.
A good rainfall during the southwest monsoon that sent a considerable quantum of water into the reservoirs and the Krishna water release helped to build the storage in the four waterbodies. “We need 3-4 spells of intense rainfall to fill the lakes this season. Each spell must bring in 10-15 cm of rainfall spread over at least two days. The available resources will help to sustain drinking water supply to the city until next year,” another official said.
Meanwhile, the WRD has engaged machinery to remove silt from the vulnerable portions of the Kandaleru Poondi canal to weed out obstructions in the flow into the Poondi reservoir. Tenders have been called for a ₹24 crore project to repair the canal’s lining that has suffered damage. However, temporary restoration is being done as the 25 km canal from the entry point in Tamil Nadu to the Poondi reservoir carries Krishna water. The work would be taken up on the 6 km stretch near Periapalayam once the water flow stops, an official said.
