Chembarambakkam water to be released for paddy cultivation

The Chembarambakkam reservoir is one of the major storage points for the city’s drinking water needs and is the largest among the four waterbodies used as a drinking water source for Chennai.

“Chembarambakkam reservoir has supplied for the drinking water facilities in the city, now we are supplying water for irrigation too. The reservoir has 1,547 mcft of water against its capacity of 3,645 mcft. The paddy cultivation has been existing in the neighbouring for more than 25 years for 400 acres of land in Sirukulathur and Pazhanthandalam. They have been requesting for water but we were not able to supply to them as the water was not enough in the city,” said S Babu, Executive Engineer, WRD.

“For the paddy cultivation, the farmers will need water for 90 days. But it would be enough if we release water for 50 days, they would get 600 cusecs (50 mcft) of water,” he added.

The official also said that the water released for irrigation is being used for domestic purposes which is is also one of the reasons for the department to not to release water for the residents of Sirukulathur and Pazhanthandalam.