Cyclone Fengal: Water inflow into Chembarambakkam lake rises by 19 ft

CHENNAI: Water inflow into the Chembarambakkam reservoir increased due to the heavy rains on Saturday and the water resources department is monitoring all the reservoirs that supply drinking water to the city.

However, the officials said that there is no need to release the rainwater as the reservoir is running at 67 per cent capacity.

Chembarambakkam reservoir, which has a total height of 24 feet, has reached 19.47 feet as of 6 pm on Saturday.

The reservoir's full capacity is 3,645 mcft, and the water storage was 2,268 mcft on Saturday morning. The water storage of the reservoir increased to about 67 per cent of the full capacity by 6 pm and stood at 2,474 mcft. Since 6 am in the morning on Saturday, 206 mcft of water has flowed into the lake.

A release from the Water Resources Department said that the five reservoirs that supply drinking water to Chennai have a total capacity of 11.76 TMC and currently, only about 50 per cent of the total capacity is full.

The district administration and Water Resources Department officials are continuously monitoring the situation, and there is no need to open the gates for release of the water as of now. Kancheepuram District Collector Kalaiselvi Mohan visited the Chembarambakkam lake on Saturday evening to inspect the situation.

With rains lashing Chennai and Tiruvallur, the Poondi and Redhills had also started receiving inflow and the water bodies in Tiruvallur disrict are filling up. The nearby falls located close to Chennai including Nagalapuram, Tada and Kaigei falls located in Tiruvallur and Vellore border areas are also receiving good inflow, informed tourism department sources said.