Metrowater increases supply to 700 MLD to prevent crowding

The decision was taken during a meeting held by SP Velumani, Municipal Administration Minister, on Wednesday. “As much as 7.6 TMC of Krishna water has been received from Andhra Pradesh. As of now, the city lakes have storage of 6.3 TMC. It will last till the end of this year,” a department press release said.

During the meeting, Velumani instructed the Metrowater officials to provide pipe water supply to 1,000 streets where water is being supplied using tanker lorries. The move will prevent unwanted crowding and ensure social distancing. The additional water supply would start from Thursday. The increased supply will continue till the end of this year.

The move has been taken after the Chennai Corporation identified that the virus had spread among the residents while fetching water from tanker lorries. Particularly, several persons contracted the virus in Ambattur from crowds at water tankers.

“Chennai Corporation should create quarantine facilities to shelter contacts of infected persons. The persons should be provided shelter in the quarantine facilities only after water, toilet and other facilities are arranged,” Velumani said during the meeting.

According to Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board data, Poondi, Cholavaram, Chembarambakkam and Redhills lakes had combined storage of 5,706 Mcft on Wednesday, which is several times higher than the water storage in the previous year. As on the same day in 2019, the four lakes had only 274 Mcft water.