Officials from the Water Resources Department (WRD) said that the city can expect 1 TMC of water over the next month, which is likely to improve the storage levels significantly.

The KP Canal, which carries Krishna River water from Andhra to Chennai, is around 152 km long, with 127 km in Andhra (from Kandaleru reservoir to TN border at Uthukottai), and 25 km in TN from Zero Point at Uthukottai to Poondi reservoir. Under the Telugu Ganga Project agreement, TN is entitled to receive 12 TMC of Krishna water annually from Andhra. The allocation is scheduled in two spells – 8 TMC between June and October and 4 TMC between January and April.

“Restoration works on the KP Canal in Andhra began in March and are expected to conclude next week. While Chennai received 1.3 TMC of water during the January-April period, an initial inflow of 500 cusecs per day is expected once the release begins, and this is likely to be increased to 600 cusecs,” a WRD official said.

Meanwhile, the WRD is carrying out repair works on the Red Hills feeder canal. Officials said that it would be suspended once Krishna water starts flowing and will resume after the supply stops.

As on May 19, Chennai’s five major reservoirs together held 7,005 mcft of water, accounting for 59.58% of their storage capacity of 11,757 MCFT. Of this, Poondi had 1,447 mcft, Cholavaram 154 mcft, Red Hills 2,040 mcft, Kannankottai-Thervoykandigai 309 mcft, and Chembarambakkam 2,965 mcft.