The Water Resources Department (WRD) plans to seek the release of water from Krishna river in April to meet the demand for water in the city during summer. The proposal depends on the water storage in Chennai and Andhra Pradesh.
It may be recalled that the department had earlier put off proposals for water discharge from Kandaleru reservoir in Andhra Pradesh for the next spell, beginning in January, as Chennai’s major waterbodies meeting the drinking water needs were full.
At present, the five reservoirs have a total storage of 9,063 million cubic feet.
There are sufficient water sources to maintain daily water supply till the onset of the Northeast monsoon. Chennai is now being provided with nearly 1,014.26 million litres of water a day, including industrial supply. “We may need to augment storage during peak summer. We also must consider that the reservoirs in Andhra Pradesh have minimal storage as monsoon failed to fill the reservoirs. Chennai received nearly 4,800 mcft of water from Krishna river last year,” said an official.
The department is using the dry period to improve vulnerable portions of the Kandaleru Poondi Canal to arrest seepage, and plans to complete work in a month.
Poondi reservoir, which stores Krishna river water, now has a storage of nearly 76.6%. The department has started diverting water from Poondi to Red Hills reservoir to reduce water level and enable long-pending repair works of the shutters.
“We have started releasing about 200 cusecs of water to Red Hills reservoir, from where it is treated for drinking water distribution. Water is also being sent to Chembarambakkam reservoir,” said an official.
The department expects to increase storage in the other two reservoirs and deplete water level in Poondi reservoir to facilitate execution of repair works in the 16 shutters. With the reservoir brimming with water for the past few years, the ₹9.8-crore project was delayed. The draining of water would also help desilt the waterbody in the foreshore area, and restore a portion of its original storage capacity, officials said.
Meanwhile, residents of some parts of the city, including T. Nagar and Mylapore, complained of a dip in water supply with low pressure.
Officials of Metrowater said the water from the recently inaugurated, 150-mld desalination plant in Nemmeli is being provided to balance loss of water from Veeranam tank. Interconnection of pipelines work at Alandur is set to be over in a day. Piped water supply to core areas would resume in a couple of days.
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