CHENNAI: Krishna water released from Andhra Pradesh is expected to reach Zero Point on the Tamil Nadu border in the early hours of Tuesday, bringing relief to Chennai as the city reservoirs are currently running half empty.
A water resources department (WRD) official said the Kandaleru Dam was opened two days ago, and around 1,900 cusecs of water is currently being released into the Kandaleru-Poondi Canal (KP Canal).
“As of Monday noon, the water has crossed more than 100 km of the 152-km canal. Since the release is meant for both irrigation needs in Andhra Pradesh and Chennai’s drinking water supply, we expect around 300 to 400 cusecs to reach Zero Point,” the official added.
Krishna water was last released from the Kandaleru reservoir in February and reached the Tamil Nadu border on February 25. Since then, Tamil Nadu has received around 1 tmcft of Krishna water. However, the release was halted in mid-April for maintenance work on the KP Canal. Officials said the works have now been completed.
According to Metro Water data, the combined storage in the five lakes - Poondi, Cholavaram, Red Hills, Chembarambakkam and Kannankottai Thervoykandigai - stood at 6,800 mcft on Monday against their total capacity of 11,757 mcft. On the corresponding day last year, the lakes had a combined storage of 7,028 mcft, around 270 mcft more than the current level.