CHENNAI: The Water Resource Department (WRD) is likely to submit a proposal next week for enhancing storage capacity of the Poondi reservoir and building a new reservoir at Ramanjeri, which is 11-km upstream. This will help harness surplus water from monsoon rains.
The Poondi reservoir in Tiruvallur district was built across Kosasthalaiyar river in 1944 and is maintained by the WRD. During monsoon, the reservoir receives more inflow than its capacity of 3.2 thousand million cubic feet (tmcft). As a result, the surplus water is released into Kosasthalaiyar River. Hence, the state government has planned to increase the storage capacity of Poondi reservoir from to 5 tmcft.
A senior WRD official told The New Indian Express that Poondi is the major reservoir that caters to Chennai's drinking water needs. Hence, to ensure availability of water during the summer, the department has proposed increasing the storage capacity and constructing more check dams in non-ayacut land. The height of the dam and bund would be raised.
"The proposal for the project, which is expected to cost Rs 6 crore approximately, is ready. We have to form a separate wing to initiate works. So, after getting approval, a team will be constituted," the official added.
He also said the city reservoirs' capacity was 13.213 tmcft while the demand stood at 20 tmcft. To handle the extra demand, small and medium waterbodies in and around the city would used as drinking water source.
Tanks upstream of Chembarambakkam, such as in Sriperumbudur and Pillaipakkam, would be used to augment water supply.An officials of WRD said the new dam at Ramanjeri that will store 1.5 tmcft of water is to be constructed on 800 hectares at an approximate cost of Rs 700 crore.