CHENNAI: With city reservoirs brimming and a lack of space to store additional water, the state government is likely to ask Andhra Pradesh to suspend the supply of four tmcft that is due to TN. Chennai’s drinking water requirement is 1000 million litres per day and four tmcft of water will be enough to meet the city’s water demands for at least four months, said sources.
A senior official of the Water Resources Department (WRD) told TNIE that out of 8 tmcft of Krishna water in the current spell, Tamil Nadu has received only 3.5 tmcft. The remaining 4.5 tmcft of water must be obtained before the end of the month because the Andhra government will begin dam renovation work in February. But, it would be impossible to do so as all reservoirs are near full capacity and there are no additional storage facilities.
The officials added that once Krishna water is received at the zero point in Uthukottai in Tiruvallur district, it is discharged to reservoirs through the Poondi reservoir. However, since reservoirs are almost full, TN is unable to store more water. The combined storage of six reservoirs in the city stands at 11.5 tmcft against the total capacity of 13.2 tmcft. He further said TN did not accept 4 tmcft of Krishna water in 2021-22.
Another official said, two years ago the WRD had submitted a proposal to the state government to increase the capacity of Poondi reservoir from 3.2 tmcft to 5.2 tmcft and link the tanks to create small drinking water reservoirs in the Chennai region. No funds have been allotted so far for the project, said the official.
“We have started work on a small reservoir with a capacity of 500 million cubic feet of water at Orathur, on the outskirts of the city. The task will be completed by this year. In the next five years, the state plans to increase the total storage capacity to 20 tmcft,” he said.
Inter-state agreement
As per the inter-state agreement, Andhra Pradesh has to release 12 tmcft of Krishna water every year to meet Chennai’s drinking water requirement. This is done in two spells. The first spell is effective from July to October (8 tmcft), and the second spell is effective from January to April (4 tmcft).