Chennai: With dip in inflows, WRD cuts discharge from 3 reservoirs

Till Friday, the water outflow from Poondi reservoir was 18,000 cusecs. With the rainfall coming down and the inflow also on the decline, the discharge was gradually decreased by 5,000 cusecs in the evening. “With a further decline in the inflow to 8,200 cusecs, currently 8,000 cusecs of water is been released from the reservoir. Even the water discharge to link canals has been brought down to 150 cusecs on Saturday,” said a senior WRD official (Poondi reservoir).

Similarly, the water discharge from Puzhal lake has drastically come down to 500 cusecs of water. When the city received intense rainfall, the water level in the water body had increased rapidly, with the outflow also soaring to 3,000 cusecs till Friday.

“Later in the evening, it gradually decreased to 2,000 cusecs. As the inflow started coming down with no rainfall in the past two days, only 500 cusecs of water were released from the lake on Saturday afternoon. Though the water outflow has increased, none of the low-lying areas was impacted,” said a WRD official who is in charge of Puzhal lake, Red Hills.

The officials said depending on the rainfall in the catchment areas and subsequent rise in inflows, the outflow will be increased. If not, the water discharge will be gradually brought down.

On the other hand, the inflow from Chembarambakkam reservoir has come down to 1,900 cusecs. “So the discharge has also reduced to 500 cusecs from 1,000 cusecs this morning,” an official said.