No confirmation on Krishna river water release to Chennai: WRD official
Krishna water was expected in April but has been delayed due to insufficient storage in the Kandaleru dam. Now that the neighbouring state has received intense rain in the last few days, the reservoir is expected to reach its maximum level.
Krishna River
CHENNAI: Although the southwest monsoon has been favourable to Andhra Pradesh, the discharge of Krishna water from Kandaleru dam to Chennai has been doubtful.
Officials from the Water Resource Department stated that there was no confirmation regarding the release of Krishna water.
Krishna water was expected in April but has been delayed due to insufficient storage in the Kandaleru dam. Now that the neighbouring state has received intense rain in the last few days, the reservoir is expected to reach its maximum level.
“We’ve requested the AP government to discharge water within the stipulated time. We expect to get it from this month but we haven’t received any confirmation from them. If we don’t receive Krishna water, we’ll be able to manage with the water stored in major reservoirs in the city till October,” said a senior WRD official.
As per agreement, the Andhra government should release 12 TMC of Krishna water. “However only 8 TMC of water has been discharged to TN as the State receives copious amounts of rainfall during the northeast monsoon every year. For the last 2 years, we’ve been receiving above average rainfall during the monsoon, and therefore, we’ve sufficient water in the reservoirs,” added the official.
The Metro Water official said that with 3 desalination plants in the city, supply of drinking water would not be interrupted even if the city did not get Krishna water. From November, the city is expected to receive rainfall during the northeast monsoon, which would make the water situation manageable till the following summer.