Krishna water to reach city next week: WRD

CHENNAI: To meet the demand for drinking water across Tamil Nadu during summer, Krishna water from Andhra Pradesh is released usually during January. But this year, it’s expected to reach city reservoirs by next week, said the Water Resources Department (WRD).

The supply was delayed as the neighbouring state required water for irrigation. The official said that Tamil Nadu is likely to receive at least 8 TMC of water within the next three months.

Usually, Tamil Nadu receives Krishna water in January but due to intense rainfall during the northeast monsoon in 2021, city reservoirs were filled to 90 per cent capacity. WRD requested Andhra to release water in March. Even then, the reservoirs remained at maximum storage capacity.

So now, the department extended it to May first week.

However, the date to discharge water is yet to be confirmed by the neighbouring State.

“At present, they require water for irrigation purposes. We’re expecting to get Krishna water by next week, but the date has not been confirmed. During the northeast monsoon, we had enough water storage in the reservoirs. We were able to discharge at least 30 TMC of water during the monsoon, when the dams were full,” said a senior WRD official.

The city has enough water in the reservoirs with 7 TMC, which would be sufficient to manage during the summer season. “Sometimes, the northeast monsoon might fail TN. So, to prevent shortage of drinking water or worse, drought in the city, we should store it in the reservoirs,” he added.