Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa on Friday ordered the release of 180 MLD of water from Veeranam to the city from August 17, to quench the thirst of the water-starved metro.
In a statement here, the Chief Minister said storage at Veeranam lake had gone up to 935.2 million cubic feet following the release of water from Mettur dam since August 2. The water thus received, besides being used for irrigation, could cater to drinking water requirements of the State capital. With this in view, she had launched the New Veeranam Scheme in her earlier tenure in 2004.
Currently, the city has about 1,018 million cubic feet of water in all of its reservoirs combined.
The full capacity and the present storage in each of the four reservoirs are as follows: Poondi (3,231 mcft/260 mcft), Sholavaram (nil), Red Hills (3,300 mcft/413 mcft) and Chembarampakkam (3,645 mcft/496 mcft).
Meanwhile, Metro Water officials said the release of water from Veeranam would considerably ease the situation in the city.