More Krishna water by December end, says Andhra Pradesh

The TN Public Works Department (WRD) officials said the Poondi reservoir had so far received one tmc of water under the Telugu Ganga Project. 

The AP government started releasing Krishna water on November 21 and the quantum of release was 1,700 cusecs. “However, the AP officials stopped the release of water on December 11, considering Cyclone Vardah, leading to a decline in the water level in the reservoir. The Kandaleru reservoir, which has a storage capacity of 68 tmc, now has only 12.50 tmc of water,” said a senior engineer. 

As per norms, the AP government should release Krishna water when there is 8 tmc of water in Kandaleru reservoir. “Under this circumstance, we had written a letter seeking release of water four days ago. The AP government has assured the release of water by December end,” said another engineer. 

Since there was no inflow to the reservoir, the Kandaleru-Poondi (KP) canal is drying up. “Water from Poondi reservoir is being released to Red Hills lake, from where metro water department is drawing water for drinking water purpose. “As of now, the Poondi reservoir has 653 million cubic feet (mcft) of water against its total capacity of 3,231 mcft,” the engineer added. 

“If the AP government provides one more tmc of water, we will be able to meet the City’s drinking water needs for one month. We hope that the AP officials would do the same, understanding our needs,” said a senior official from Chennai Metro Water Board. 

It may be noted that the board had floated a tender for drawing water from the renting private agricultural bore-wells in Thiruvallur district.