The committee of the Krishna River Management Board is set to hold an online meeting on July 22.
Members will discuss issues related to the release of water from the river to augment Chennai’s drinking water supply.
Officials of the Water Resources Department (WRD) said the committee will be headed by the chairperson of the management board and engineer-in-chief of WRD. The Irrigation Departments of Karnataka, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana will take part as its members and a representative from the Central Water Commission is also expected to participate.
The committee was formed in 2018 and meets once every six months to particularly discuss arrangements to meet Chennai’s drinking water needs.
Officials recalled that the four riparian States together need to provide 15 thousand million cubic feet of Krishna water to Chennai. However, the immediate State to release water to Chennai is Andhra Pradesh, which has to receive water from the upper reaches.
“We plan to ask about the release of Krishna water from Kandaleru reservoir for the next spell, due in July. We have already written a letter to the authorities concerned in Andhra Pradesh, seeking water discharge for Chennai,” an official said.
The meetings were usually held in Andhra Pradesh. However, it was being organised online due to the lockdown this time.
Chennai stopped receiving Krishna water after June 24. It had received 8,056 million cubic feet (mcft) since September-end. This was one of the highest quantities received since the launch of the Krishna Water Supply Project in 1996.
According to the inter-State agreement between Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu in 1983, Chennai would receive 12 tmcft, excluding evaporation and transmission loss, in two spells. While 8 tmc would be released between July and October, the remaining would be provided between January and April.
But, Chennai never realised the full quantity since the launch of the project. Problems in water sharing and measures taken to release water would also be discussed.
Published - July 17, 2020 12:48 am IST
