Krishna water to be suspended in a week for repairs

CHENNAI: The supply of Krishna water will be suspended in a week as the Water Resources Department (WRD) will soon begin maintenance work of the Poondi reservoir. The State was expecting 6 TMC of water from Andhra Pradesh, but so far received 2.6 TMC water in the last two months. The official said though the water is suspended early this year, there won’t be any water crisis.

“As the northeast monsoon begins in the next 2-3 months, as part of a flood mitigation project, the shutter work of Poondi reservoir will be taken up soon. Currently, the water body has 1 TMC of water. If more water is stored, it would be difficult to proceed with the maintenance work. Last week, we wrote a letter to the Andhra Pradesh government to suspend Krishna water from July 1,” said a senior WRD official.

They will gradually decrease the discharge of water and within a week the release of Krishna water will be stopped. On Friday, it was reduced to 570 cusecs, and so far 2.6 TMC of water was recorded in the reservoir. It is expected to receive at least 3 TMCs in the coming days before it is suspended.

“In 2021, the State received 8 TMC of Krishna water, and even during the monsoon, we recorded a good amount of rainwater. Though only 3 TMC water reaches the city reservoir this year from AP, there won’t be a water crisis for the next six months as Red Hills and Chembarambakkam reservoirs are 90 per cent full,” said the official.

Previously, Tamil Nadu received Krishna water in January. But due to intense rainfall during the northeast monsoon in 2021, the water storage in the city reservoirs were 90 per cent full, and so the department requested Andhra Pradesh to release water in April.

As per the request, on May 5, the authorities from AP released around 500 cusecs and 480 cusecs of water reached Poondi reservoir on May 9. Later, the inflow to the city reservoir increased to 640 cusecs.