The Water Resources Department (WRD) expects Krishna water to be released around mid-June to help improve storage in the Poondi reservoir, one of the major waterbodies that distributes drinking water to the city.
To augment resources, the department had written to their counterparts in Andhra Pradesh to discharge water from the Kandaleru reservoir. Officials of the WRD said the five reservoirs, including Thervoy Kandigai-Kannankottai in Tiruvallur district, had a combined storage of 6,985 million cubic feet of water (mcft), which was nearly 59.4% of their capacity.
In Poondi reservoir, which receives Krishna water, the storage had reduced to 11% of its capacity as much of it’s storage was transferred to other waterbodies in Red Hills and Chembarambakkam.
“We are seeking Krishna water to step up storage in the Poondi reservoir and sustain daily water supply in the city. Andhra Pradesh authorities have agreed to release additional water in the Kandaleru-Poondi Canal around June 15. They are already releasing about 1,600 cusecs (cubic feet per second) of water for drinking water and irrigation requirements of areas en route in their State,” an official said. The Kandaleru reservoir has sufficient storage of about 44,000 mcft.
The department is expecting to increase the storage in the Poondi reservoir by about 500 mcft if the KP Canal’s entry point in Uthukottai receives 500 cusecs for a fortnight. The city had received nearly 8,158 mcft as its share of Krishna water since May 2020 with a break. Water release was stopped in April 2021.
Discharge of Krishna water would be timely to manage resources and maintain adequate water supply. Chennai is being supplied with 844.54 million litres of water a day (mld). Of this, domestic water supply, including added areas, through pipelines and tankers account to 815.77 mld as on Monday. The city’s total water supply was 700 mld during June 2020.
Officials noted that the ongoing repair work in the KP Canal may help minimise water loss. About 40% of the work has been completed in the vulnerable stretches between Uthukottai and Poondi. “Normally, we have 15% of water loss when it reaches Poondi . We expect this to reduce by 10-11% by taking up repair work of the canal,” the official added.
