Chennai reservoirs receives 320 cusecs Krishna water

CHENNAI: Water managers in Chennai are in upbeat as Tamil Nadu started receiving 320 cusecs of Krishna water from Andhra Pradesh and with 50 per cent storage in the city reservoirs, officials in the Water Resources Department (WRD) are confident of handling the summer situation.

The official stated that there is no time bound for the inflow of Krishna water this year. Whenever the water level reaches maximum capacity, the department would request neighbouring state to stop the water.

"The city reservoirs storage level reduced, the Poondi reservoir has 1 TMC, and other reservoirs including Redhills and Chembarambakkam dam have only 50 per cent storage. So, we requested Andhra Pradesh to release water a month earlier due to the demand. At least 2,400 cusecs of water have been discharged from May 5," said a senior WRD official.

The water has been released for irrigation purposes in AP, and the remaining 320 cusecs are for drinking water for Chennai city.

The water reached Poondi reservoir last week and will be let out to other reservoirs in the city.

"The inflow is expected to increase further if the water level in Andhra Pradesh reservoir increases due to rains. We hope that the neighboring state does not witnesses any water crises so that the supply to Chennai is hit. In case of any water crisis in AP, the inflow would be stopped within a short period of notice," said the official.

Currently, Red Hills reservoir has 2.455 TMC against 3.300 TMC, Chembarambakkam reservoir's present storage is 2.640 TMC, Poondi reservoir currently has 1.011 TMC, Chollavaram 0.760 TMC and water storage in Kannankottai Thervoy Kandigai reservoir is full with 0.469TMC, WRD sources said.