Problem of plenty: TN asks Andhra to stop Krishna water release

According to a Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (Metro Water) official, the release of Krishna water was stopped following the request by the Metro Water and Water Resource Department of the PWD. 

“The release was stopped a few days ago. We will receive water from Andhra Pradesh whenever the storage in the lakes go down, as the reservoirs in the neighbouring State are brimming, “ the official said. 

As per the Telugu Ganga agreement between Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, the neighbouring state should release 12 TMC of water every year. Between September 20 and February 18, the city received more than 7 thousand million cubic feet (TMC) water from Andhra Pradesh. 

As per Metro Water data, the five lakes that supply drinking water to the city had a combined storage of 11,012 million cubic feet (mcft) on Friday morning, which is more than 93 per cent of the total capacity of 11,757 mcft. 

Among the lakes, Chembarambakkam lake had the highest storage with 3,325 mcft of water. Poondi lake and Red Hills lake have 3,101 mcft and 3,208 mcft respectively. Cholavaram lake andKannankottai Thervoykandigai lake have 880 mcft and 498 mcft respectively. Of these, Kannankottai Thervoykandigai lake, which was recently added to the city’s water source, is 99 per cent full against its capacity of 500 mcft. 

The Metro Water had increased the water supply to 830 million liters per day (MLD) a few weeks ago. On Friday, 830.50 MLD water was supplied to the city against 606 MLD supplied on the same day last year.