There has been a steady dip in the inflow of Krishna water into the Poondi reservoir that stores water for city supply. The dip comes at a time when the city is bracing to face an acute water crisis.
According to sources in the Water Resources Department (WRD), the Andhra Pradesh authorities may soon stop releasing Krishna water to the city as the storage in the Kandaleru reservoir is dwindling.
Reduced discharge
Officials of the WRD said the volume of water discharged into the Kandaleru-Poondi canal was reduced to 830 cubic feet per second (cusecs) from 1,250 cusecs released on the previous day. “Much of the water discharged into the canal is being used for irrigation and drinking purposes enroute. We are receiving only 85 cusecs at the State’s border of the canal in Uthukottai and this may decrease further from Friday,” said an official. It may be recalled that Krishna water is being released from early February to Chennai. The city reservoir has received nearly 365 million cubic feet (mcft) so far. This is equal to two weeks of drinking water supply to the city.
Krishna water has helped maintain the storage of the reservoirs above 1,000 mcft for a month. The combined storage of the four city reservoirs stood at 1,072 mcft, against a total capacity 11,257 mcft.
“We will be able to manage drinking water supply for two more months with available resources in the reservoirs and the Veeranam tank,” the official said.
Published - March 01, 2019 01:32 am IST
