Chennai Metrowater plans to maintain the drinking water supply at 650 million litres a day (mld) till next summer as storage in the city’s major reservoirs is only at near half their capacity.
Though northeast monsoon rains helped bring in inflows since October-end, the four reservoirs have only 47% of their capacity. The reservoirs in Poondi, Red Hills, Cholavaram and Chembarambakkam together have a storage of 5,275 million cubic feet (mcft) against their total capacity of 11,257 mcft as on Monday.
Sustainable till August
Officials of the Metrowater noted that water supply at the present rate of 650 million litres a day can be maintained till August next year with the available resources. “We will decide on increasing the water supply in January depending on the water level in city reservoirs,” said a senior official.
It may be recalled that the water agency had tweeted last month that the city was officially out of water shortage. This followed steady inflow into the major lakes.
Groundwater level up
Officials said the crisis has eased in the city and the groundwater table has gone up in the past two months.
The dip in the number of daily lorry trips also indicated better water availability. At present, Metrowater operates 5,600 tanker trips compared to 11,500 trips during October.
To further increase supply, the storage in the reservoirs must reach a better position, they said.
Poondi lake is continuing to get a steady inflow of 586 cusecs (cubic feet per second) of Krishna water from Andhra Pradesh.
This has helped in maintaining the daily water supply and a gradual increase in the lake’s storage. Chennai has received nearly 3,247 mcft of Krishna water since September 28.
According to officials, this is among the highest volumes of Krishna water received in recent years in a single spell.
It is equal to four months of supply to the city.
The water agency is also drawing water from Veeranam tank in Cuddalore district, which is close to 71% of its capacity of 1,465 mcft.
The tank contributes nearly 170-180 mld to the city’s drinking water requirements.
