CHENNAI: Krishna Water, one of the primary sources meeting the drinking water needs of Chennai, is proving to be unreliable once again. The supply from Kandaleru reservoir in Andhra Pradesh will most likely be stopped in four days.
Though Andhra officials promised to release 1 tmcft water starting February till March first week, the Poondi reservoir has received only 370 mcft. Chennai is unlikely to get the remaining 630 mcft, PWD officials told Express.
This is because the Kandaleru reservoir has reached its dead storage level. It has only 7.5 tmcft of water against a total capacity of 68. On Thursday, Poondi received only 85 cusecs of water, compared to 420 cusecs last Thursday. “AP government released 4 tmcft water last month to meet its irrigation needs. But Chennai’s share of 4 tmcft, to be released between January and April as per the Telugu Ganga Project, has not reached the city once again,” the official added.
However, officials are confident that existing 370 mcft in Poondi will take care of Chennai’s drinking needs till March-end. “The four reservoirs together hold 1.07 tmcft water and Veeranam has 1.02 tmcft. This should cover us for three months,” they said.
Four Tmcft of Krishna Water was released by the AP government last month for their irrigation needs said officials. But Chennai’s share of four Tmcft of water as per the Telugu Ganga Project between January to April hasn’t reached the city once again. This makes the impending water shortage in the summer an unavoidable situation.
According to Chennai Metro Water website, Poondi reservoir stored 474 Mcft of Krishna Water as of Thursday which will be directed to Red Hills reservoir also.
Krishna water and Cauvery water have boosted the water levels in city’s four reservoirs which was below one Tmcft last month. The city is currently being supplied with 480-550 MLD on alternate days against the usual supply of 850 MLD while the actual requirement is close to 1200 MLD.