Krishna water release from A.P. resumes after a month

Supply expected to reach inter-State border in Tiruvallur by the evening

After a month’s gap, Krishna water from Andhra Pradesh is on its way to help meet Chennai’s drinking water needs.

The water was released into the 152-km-long Kandaleru-Poondi canal on May 25 and has reached Kalahasti in Andhra Pradesh. It would cover 60 km and reach the inter-State border at Uthukottai in Tiruvallur by Thursday evening.

Officials of the Water Resources Department (WRD) said the authorities from Andhra Pradesh assured the release of 0.5 thousand million cubic feet (tmcft) of water from the Krishna. On Wednesday, nearly 1,200 cusecs (cubic feet per second) were discharged from Kandaleru reservoir. “The initial flow may be less. We expect to receive 500-600 cusecs daily in a few days,” an official said. Of the 8 tmcft assured by the Andhra Pradesh government, Chennai has so far received 7.55 thousand million cubic feet (tmcft) since September-end.

This was set to help augment the storage in city’s reservoirs. Water would be stored in Poondi reservoir and distributed to Chennai from there. Discharge from Kandaleru reservoir was suspended mid-April in order to discourage irrigation, since the period was over.

“We now have 5.2 tmcft of water in four city reservoirs against their capacity of 11.2 tmcft. There will not be dearth of resources this year. We will be able to manage water needs till the onset of the Northeast monsoon. Krishna water will help sustain the same drinking water supply,” the official added.

The department is also looking to build up storage in Veeranam tank, Cuddalore, after water is released from Mettur dam in June.

Veeranam is another significant water source for Chennai. Metrowater recently increased drinking water supply to 700 million litres a day to ensure piped water supply to an additional 1,000 streets.

The same volume of supply is expected to be maintained for a few more months.