Krishna water from the Kandaleru reservoir in Andhra Pradesh is likely to be released on September 24. This will provide the much-needed relief to Chennai, struggling to sustain its water supply for several months now.
With the storage in the reservoir steadily rising, the A.P. government is likely to discharge water into the Kandaleru-Poondi canal on Tuesday. The reservoir now has a storage of 8.61 thousand million cubic feet, and received an inflow of 10,000 cusecs on Friday.
CM’s word
Officials of the Water Resources Department said the storage would be stepped up. Water is expected to be discharged for both Andhra Pradesh’s needs and Chennai’s water supply.
As per the inter-State agreement, the city has to be provided with 8 tmc ft of Krishna water during this spell.
It may take a few days for the water to reach the State’s entry point in Uthukottai, Tiruvallur district. The Poondi reservoir will receive Krishna water by the month-end, or in early October, officials added.
During a meeting with a delegation from Tamil Nadu in August, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy had agreed to release 8 tmc ft of Krishna water to the city.
Supply to increase
At present, Chennai is being supplied with 525 million litres of water a day.
Once the inflow of Krishna water stabilises, piped water supply is likely to improve in the city and the daily volume of supply will be stepped up, said officials.
