Desilting work of Poondi reservoir begins again

The Water Resources Department (WRD) resumed the desilting work of the Poondi reservoir, which was halted during the northeast monsoon as it had reached almost full capacity – 2,000 MCFT.

The official said that the project proposed restoration of the original capacity of the water body at a total cost of Rs 257 crore.

Sathyamoorthy Sagar Reservoir, Poondi, was constructed in 1944 with a total storage capacity of 3,231 MCFT. It remains one of the major sources of water supply to the city. The government proposed to desilt around 2.05 crore cubic metre silt from the reservoir.

“The work began on August 20, 2021, but due to the northeast monsoon, the reservoir was almost filled to capacity for the past three months. So, the desilting work had to be stopped temporarily,” said a senior WRD official.

“Now, the water level has reduced and the water body near the coastal area has dried up, we resumed desilting work recently. As on date, the total quantity of deposit desilted in the reservoir is 8,840 cubic metres,” he added.

The project proposed to restore the original capacity of the reservoir which was lost for the past 75 years. The total period of desilting is estimated to be 10 years at the cost of Rs 257.94 crore allocated for the work.

During the northeast monsoon last year, Poondi reservoir discharged the highest amount of water with 28.83 TMC. The department has also planned to desilt the Chembarambakkam reservoir soon.