Not only the increase in the temperatures now in Chennai has been troubling the residents, but it is also slowly creating another important issue.
The rise in the mercury levels have increased the rate of evaporation at the reservoirs in Chennai and in TN. This was mentioned by a senior officer belonging to WRD or water resources department.
It is known that the water bodies that are present in Chennai and its suburbs are shallow. Point is that the amount of water evaporating is significantly more now due to the rise in the temperature.
The shocking piece of information is that atleast one of the reservoirs has lost half the amount of water this summer due to evaporation.
Many ideas have been suggested by the experts to prevent the water loss from the reservoirs and these include installing floating solar panels that would generate green power. The experts have mentioned about the water depletion at the reservoirs that would help the groundwater level to recharge.
The Water Resources Dept has been monitoring the water level loss due to evaporation. At Least 20 cusecs of water would get reduced from a reservoir in the summer season. The capacity differences have caused the depletion to vary from reservoirs. It is noteworthy that the water discharged from the reservoirs for drinking purposes includes factors like evaporation and seepage etc. It must be recalled that a few years back a new method of floating thermocols on the canals was also tried to prevent evaporation of water from the reservoirs.