Chennai gets one month’s water supply in a few days’ rain

The 900 mcft of storage would ensure nearly a month’s supply of drinking water. Though the rainfall reduced by Monday morning, reservoirs continue to receive a steady inflow from their catchment areas.

With catchment areas of four reservoirs — Red Hills, Poondi, Cholavaram and Chembarambakkam — receiving good spells of rain, the water level in these reservoirs has risen steadily. The combined storage in the four city reservoirs stood at 4,091 mcft against their capacity of 11,257 mcft. Last year on the same day, the lakes had a total storage of only 1,694 mcft.

As on Monday evening, Poondi reservoir received the maximum water inflow. Its storage level stood at 1,229 mcft as against its total capacity of 3,231 mcft. Red Hills reservoir currently has a storage level of 1,818 mcft vis-a-vis its full capacity of 3,300 mcft. In Cholavaram, the water level is at 131 mcft as compared to a total storage capacity of 1,081 mcft. Chembarambakkam reservoir has the lowest inflow among the four reservoirs, with a water storage level of 913 mcft as compared to a total storage capacity of 3,645 mcft.

Poondi reservoir witnessed a heavy inflow of 2,925 cusecs, including an inflow of 543 cusecs of Krishna water, on Monday morning. Red Hills and Chembarambakkam lakes received an inflow of about 2,000 cusecs. In the past 24 hours, ending 6 am on Monday, the four reservoirs recorded rainfall ranging from 10 cm to 7 cm. Chembarambakkam recorded the highest rainfall of 10 cm.

Veeranam tank in Cuddalore district is almost full with present storage of 1,124 mcft against its capacity of 1,465 mcft. The Metro Water draws 180 mld of water from the tank. A senior Metro Water official said that they expect the water levels in the four reservoirs would go up further after the next spells of rains this month. “If the combined storage of the four reservoirs crossed 6,000 mcft, it will help ensure drinking water supply of 830 mld against the present supply of 650 mld,” the official said, adding that the State has received 2,492 mcft of Krishna water in the last two months.