Krishna water reaches Uthukottai

Tamil Nadu Ministers K.V. Ramalingam, K.P. Munusamy and B.V. Ramana offer a floral welcome to the Krishna water at Uthukottai on Thursday.. Photo: M. Vedhan

The much awaited Krishna water from the Kandaleru reservoir in Andhra Pradesh reached the inter-State border in Uthukottai on Thursday evening.

Water discharged from the reservoir on Tuesday travelled nearly 152 km before it reached the State entry point of the Kandaleru Poondi canal around 4 p.m. The water would help augment storage in the city reservoirs and sustain daily supply by Chennai Metrowater.

Local Administration Minister K.P.Munusamy, Public Works Department Minister K.V. Ramalingam and Minister for Handlooms and Textiles B.V.Ramana, who is the Tiruvallur MLA, participated in a function organised on the occasion and offered a floral welcome.

Water Resources Department officials said the entry point received about 100 cubic feet of water per second (cusecs) by around 7 p.m. The realisation at the entry point is expected to increase to 300 cusecs by Friday as nearly 1,000 cusecs are being discharged from Kandaleru reservoir.

The storage in the Kandaleru reservoir on Thursday was 38.5 thousand million cubic feet.

“We expect the quantum of water realised to go up to 800-1,000 cusecs in the next few days,” said an official.

Mr.Munusamy said the Andhra Pradesh government has promised to release 3,000 mcft for Chennai's drinking water needs. “This would be sufficient to maintain daily water supply till the year-end. We will request for the release of Krishna water to continue till December if necessary,” he said.

On queries about damaged portions of the KP canal till Poondi reservoir, he said necessary action would be taken to transmit water without wastage.

WRD officials said water would have to travel another 25 km on KP canal to reach Poondi reservoir, the prime storage point by Friday evening.

One cusec will yield 28.3 litres. If 100 cusecs is realised for a whole day, it would translate in to 8.64 mcft, said an official.

According to Chennai Metrowater officials, about 40 mcft of water is drawn daily for city supply from the four reservoirs at Poondi, Red Hills, Chembarampakkam and Cholavaram.