No Krishna water supply to Chennai from Sunday

Reliable sources in the PWD said that they have received oral communication regarding the stoppage and the state might not get Krishna water from Sunday. 

PWD officials said that the AP government released Krishna water after former Chief Minister O Panneerselvam met his counterpart N Chandrababu Naidu on January 12 and sought to release the quantum due for Tamil Nadu as per the Telugu Sai Ganga water agreement. 

Following this, the AP government assured to provide 2.5 tmc to TN. Subsequently, water was released to the parched Poondi reservoir.

A source in the PWD department said “Poondi reservoir has so far received 2.25 tmc and we have to get only 0.25 tmc. We received an oral communication from our counterparts in AP stating that they will stop releasing water from Saturday. However, they did not specify the time”. 

A senior PWD engineer, Kosasthalaiyar basin, told DTNext “we are monitoring the flow in the Kandaleru-Poondi (KP) canal and in some points, water is stagnating.” 

Meanwhile, the decision to stop Krishna water supply has come as a jolt to water managers in the city. “The fact remains that Krishna water played a crucial role in tackling the water demand in the city. However, the existing storage in Poondi and Red Hills lakes will be enough to meet the water needs of the city for next one-and-a-half months,” said an official, CMWSSB.