CHENNAI: A joint committee with representatives from Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh has been formed to coordinate in releasing the Krishna water to meet the drinking water needs of Chennai. The first-of-its-kind committee will have six officials - three from each of the states.
The officials of the Water Resource Department said they would hold the first meeting in the third week of August to discuss recurrent problems concerning shortage and annual release of the Krishna water to Tamil Nadu.
The prime aim of this committee is to fasten the process of gaining allocated amount of Krishna water.
“When compared to getting the Cauvery water from Karnataka, it has been a relatively easier process to get the Krishna water from Andhra Pradesh. But there have been repeated delays in discharging the Krishna water to the Tamil Nadu. This body was formed to prevent further delays,” added the official.
As there have been no committees of this kind previously, there were communication problems between the Water Resource departments handling the Krishna water before. To monitor and regularise the release of water and to tackle problems pertaining to low water levels in the Kandaleru reservoir, this body was formed.
Two officials from the Water Resource department and an official from Metro Water will represent TN. Similarly three senior AP officials from its Telugu Ganga Project will be part of this six-member committee.
“Though Chennai will get water from the Cauvery water via Veeranam tank, once it fills up in 20 days, we need the Krishna water for the next four months to sustain the city’s drinking water needs,” said the official.
As per the Telugu Ganga Project, the state is entitled to receive 12 tmcft of the Krishna water every year. But as the water levels in the Kandaleru reservoir in Andhra are dismal, the state is yet to receive 8 tmcft of water which is supposed to be released between July and October. “As the Kandaleru reservoir has a dead storage level of around 5 tmcft, they said that water will be released by October end,” said a Water Resource department official.
Earlier the city received 2 tmcft of the Krishna water between January and March. But with water levels of city’s four reservoirs standing at less than 20 per cent of its total capacity, to avoid water shortage in the coming months, the release of the Krishna water is crucial to meet the city’s water demands of 830 MLD of water.
6-member panel
Two officials from Water Resource dept and an official from Metro Water will represent TN. 3 AP officials from Telugu Ganga Project will be part of this six-member committee
15 tmcft
According to the Telugu Ganga Project, unified AP, Karnataka and Maharashtra have to jointly release 15 tmcft to the State. Chennai is being supplied 650 million litres a day against its requirement of 830 million litres