CHENNAI: Chennaiites need not worry about water scarcity this summer thanks to the adequate water storage.
An official attached to the Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (CMWSSB) told DT NEXT that as of now, the city reservoirs have a storage of 8.5 thousand million cubic (TMC) water in the reservoirs; the average need of drinking water for the city is around one TMC per month.
Further, the CMWSSB is pumping in 250 million litres of water through Nemmeli desalination plant, and in 20 days the city will get water from the Krishna river, the official said, exuding confidence that all is well for Chennai and its neighbourhoods. The surface water available now is enough for the city to battle this summer and manage a few more months, the official noted.
According to the CMWSSB website, all the major vital drinking water reservoirs for the city, including Poondi, Cholavaram, Redhills, Chembarambakkam and Veeranam, are almost 50% full. It also reveals that the total water capacity of the city is now 8.5 TMC against the full capacity of 13 TMC.
At the end of April, Poondi reservoir has 2.03 TMC of water, Cholavaram reservoir follows with 1.4 TMC. Rehills reservoir has 2.8 TMC and Chembarambakkam holds 2.5 TMC water. The distant Verranam lake has 0.741 TMC water and the city reservoirs combined storage is currently around 66.61%.
Meanwhile, Metro Water has made elaborate arrangements to meet the summer demand. Additional water tankers are pressed into service to meet the drinking water demand in tail end areas.