Relief as 100 cusecs of Krishna water from AP reaches city

Offering a much needed relief for the capital city that is fast running out of water, Chennai started receiving Krishna water released from Kandaleru reservoir in Andhra Pradesh. The water is released at 100 cubic per second (cusecs) at present, which, according to officials here, is expected to be stepped up to 400 cusecs in the coming days.

The release of water has gained importance, as the city is staring at yet another crisis due to the failure of northeast monsoon in 2018. The Water Resources Department (WRD) officials said their counterparts in Andhra Pradesh has promised to increase the supply of water gradually. 

The supply would continue as long as the neighbouring State has enough water to meet its demand, said a WRD official. “Even their storage capacity, which stood at 10.55 thousand million cubic feet (TMC) on Wednesday, is receding,” the official added. 

Under the Krishna Water Supply Project, Chennai is to receive 4,000 million cubic feet (MCFT) of water from Kandaleru reservoir annually. This would be released between January and April. Under the project, water is released from Srisailam reservoir to Somasila reservoir, from where it is diverted to the Kandaleru reservoir. Then the water is taken to Poondi reservoir through a 25-km canal to meet Chennai’s drinking water supply demand. This would offer welcome relief for the water managers here. 

On Wednesday, the water level at Poondi reservoir stood at 158 MCFT against its total capacity of 3,231 MCFT. In contrast, the reservoir had 1,637 MCFT water on the same day last year. “The water available now will meet the city’s needs for at least one and half month. The Krishna water supply is only an additional source,” added an official. 

On Wednesday, the water level in Srisailam reservoir was 53.27 TMC while it was 17.85 TMC in Somasila reservoir. The four city reservoirs have a total storage of 878 MCFT against the total capacity of 11,257 MCFT on Wednesday.