Updated by admin on
Thursday, June 26, 2014 10:15 AM IST
Chennai:
The Tamil Nadu Water Resources Department (WRD), facing poor storage in reservoirs, has written to the Andhra Pradesh government seeking supply of Krishna water from July 1, 2014.
Krishna water is needed to meet Chennai’s requirement of nearly 600 million litres a day (mld) till the onset of the northeast monsoon in October, officials have pointed out.
Ideally, the city's seven lakh consumers would need 1,000 mld if the surrounding areas are included.
The present storage in the reservoirs at Red Hills, Chembarambakkam and Poondi is only 2,600 million cubic feet of water (mcft), barely 30 per cent of the total capacity. Cholavaram reservoir is virtually dry from 2013.
At present storage levels, drinking water ssupply for Chennai can be maintained for only three more months.
Evenif water from Veeranam tank in Cuddalore district to the extent of 180 mld would help Chennai, officials said supply of Krishna water was crucial.
The city reservoirs lose about five mcft of water daily due to evaporation daily, especially as rains from south-west monsoon have been deficient.
Chennai has sought release of Krishna water from Kandaleru reservoir in Andhra pradesh.
An official said the State received 5,600 mcft of Krishna water in 2013. Thanks to Krishna water, Chennai could get water supply while storage levels were also maintained. With aeeival of 300-400 cubic feet of water per second, storage could be boosted till the north-east monsoon.
Meanwhile, Metrowater has reduced the water supply from 810 mld to 600 mld, and reorganised
distribution to ensure daily supply, supported by water from well fields in Poondi and
Thamaraipakkam. Water was also available from desalination plants. The well fields in Tiruvallur and
the Neyveli aquifer were looked upon as reserve in the event of a crisis.
