Monsoon fails city: Only 13 per cent water in four major lakes

According to the Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (CMWSSB) data, Poondi, Cholavaram, Redhills and Chembarambakkam lakes, the major lakes that provide drinking water to the city, have a combined storage of 13 per cent as on Monday. The combined storage level of fours lakes is 1,402 million cubic feet (mcft) against 11,257 mcft. On December 31, 2017, the lakes had 4,969 mfct storage.

The Poondi lake has present storage of 302 mcft against its full capacity of 3,231 mcft and Cholavaram lake has a storage of 48 mcft against 1,081 mcft. Redhills lake has 948 mcft against 3,300 mcft and Chembarambakkam has 104 mcft against 3,645 mcft.

“We were expecting the monsoon to increase the water levels, but the rains have failed. However, we have made several arrangements to meet the water needs,” an official said.

The city received only around 42cm of rain during the Northeast monsoon against the seasonal average of 78cm, which is 54 per cent deficit.

Presently, the CMWSSB is supplying 650 MLD (Million Litres per Day) on alternate days against the actual need of 835 MLD.

However, the officials are optimistic that they could manage the situation with the supply drawn from Veeranam lake, desalination plants apart from Porur lake, abandoned quarries and agricultural wells in Tiruvallur district. The officials have also floated tenders to build 10 MLD water treatment plant to draw from Rettai Eri, Perumbakkam and Ayanambakkam lakes.