CHENNAI: The release of water from the Mettur Dam for drinking water needs has significantly boosted storage in Veeranam lake, with the reservoir gaining more than 100 million cubic feet (mcft) of water in just two days.
As per data from the Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (Metro Water), Veeranam lake received nearly 1,000 cusecs of inflow on Thursday and Friday.
The lake’s storage increased from 265 mcft on Wednesday, when there was no inflow, to 375 mcft as of Friday morning, against its full capacity of 1,465 mcft. The water treatment facility near Veeranam Lake has a designed capacity to send 180 MLD (million litres per day) to Chennai.
Similarly, the city has received around 1,000 mcft of Krishna River water from Andhra Pradesh since May 25. However, the water received at the Zero Point at the state border has gone down to less than 200 cusecs, well short of the 500 cusecs sought by the Water Resources Department (WRD).
“We have once again requested the neighbouring state to ensure a flow of 500 cusecs,” a WRD official said. As of Friday, the five major reservoirs - Poondi, Cholavaram, Red Hills, Kannankottai-Thervoy Kandigai and Chembarambakkam - held about 47% of their combined storage capacity. Poondi had 1,006 mcft of water, Cholavaram 90 mcft, Red Hills 1,685 mcft, Kannankottai-Thervoy Kandigai 309 mcft, and Chembarambakkam 2,528 mcft.