The much-awaited Krishna water, released from the Kandaleru reservoir in Andhra Pradesh, reached the Tamil Nadu border in Uthukottai, Tiruvallur district, ahead of schedule. This is set to ease water shortage in Chennai.
Officials of the Water Resources Department said that the entry point of the 152-km long Kandaleru-Poondi canal, in Uthukottai, received 85 cusecs (cubic feet per second) of water initially. This gradually increased to 250 in the afternoon, and is expected to go up. “We expected Krishna water to reach on Sunday or Monday. But the water, released from Andhra Pradesh on September 25, reached the Tamil Nadu border within four days,” an official said.
Krishna water was expected to flow into the Poondi reservoir, the storage point, by Saturday night, after travelling another 25 km. Water reached sooner than expected because of the damp canal bed due to rain in the catchment areas, officials said. Minister for Municipal Administration and Water Supply S.P. Velumani and Rural Industries Minister P. Benjamin offered flowers as the water flowed into Tamil Nadu.
Andhra Pradesh authorities had released nearly 1,800 cusecs from the Kandaleru reservoir.
City’s water needs
The Poondi reservoir already received an inflow of 159 cusecs due to consistent rain in the region. It now has a storage of 491 million cubic feet (mcft), against its capacity of 3,231 mcft, as on Saturday.
The water from River Krishna would help improve the storage and resume drawal from the reservoir for the city’s drinking water needs. At present, Chennai is being supplied 525 million litres of water daily.
