TN Govts new important decision regarding water supply to Chennai ?
Posted on: 25/Jan/2023 9:41:33 AM
The rains have made the Chennai reservoirs brimming with water and there is no extra space available now to store additional water. In this scenario, the TN government would ask Andhra Pradesh to suspend the supply of 4 tmcft that is due to the city.
According to some sources, the drinking water requirement of Chennai is 1000 million litres per day. The sources added that 4 tmcft of water would be sufficient to meet the Chennai water demands for atleast 4 months. Out of 8tmcft of Krishna water in the present spell, TN received just 3.5tmcft. This was according to a senior officer belonging to the WRD or water resources department.
Before the end of January, the remainig 4.5 tmcft water must be obtained and that is due to the fact that the AP government would start dam renovation works in february. He explained that it would be impossible to do as all the reservoirs were full of water and there are no additional storage facilities.
From the zero point in Uthukottai near Chennai, the Krishna water gets discharged to the reservoirs through Poondi reservoir. Against a total capacity of 13.2 tmcft, the combined storage of 6 reservoirs stands at 11.5tmcft now. In 2021-22, TN did not accept 4tmcft of Krishna water is known.
Two years back, WRD had submitted a proposal to the TN government to increase the capacity of the Poondi reservoir from 3.2tmcft to 5.2tmcft. Linking the tanks to create small drinking water reservoirs was also made at that time.
