Thervoy Kandigai reservoir to be ready in three months

Despite completing 75 per cent of the works, including 7.15 km-long bund construction, the project was in limbo owing to bottlenecks in payment of compensation to owners of the remaining 344-acre private land required to construct another 2km-long bund of the reservoir, a senior WRD (water resources department), a source told DTNext.

Initially, the private land owners were offered 1.5times the actual land cost (guideline value), but after the government notified the Tamil Nadu Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Rules, 2017, land owners ought to be paid 2-3 times the land cost on varying parameters and hence the delay, the source reasoned.

“The government has approved the revised settlement. The 2km long bund would be constructed in three months. The reservoir would be ready for the next monsoon season,” the senior WRD officer said.

Catchments sufficient to fill reservoir;

Krishna water from Kandaleru in Andhra would be diverted to the new reservoir via the new 8.3km linking canal branching out of Krishna Canal at 2kms from zero point in Oothukottai. This apart, catchments areas like Karadiputhur and Balakrishnapuram would also fill the reservoir, which would get two fillings (0.5tmcft per filling) every year. The engineer further said that though Krishna water would be diverted to the reservoir, its own catchments would be sufficient to fill up the reservoir.

While talking about Krishna water from Kandaleru in Andhra to be diverted for the city’s fifth reservoir Thervoy Kandigai, which will be ready in three months, a water sources department engineer said, “Though the reservoir has been developed keeping in mind Krishna water from Andhra, its own catchments would be sufficient to fill it up.”

The engineer further claimed that an estimated 3tmcft drained in to Bay of Bengal from the catchment areas during the 2015 flood.

“A regulator has been constructed at Balakrishnapuram to divert water from the catchments in to the reservoir. As soon as it overflows, the surplus would be let in to the ocean. This way, precious rain water could be saved and utilised,” the engineer reasoned, adding that the city would also be able to stock an additional 1tmcft Krishna Water (if monsoon fails here) for the city in the 1tmcft reservoir, which is being developed by merging Kannankottai and Thervoy Kandigai lakes.