TN asks AP to release Krishna water to Chennai

CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu has written to the Andhra Pradesh government to release Krishna water to Chennai from the Kandaleru reservoir in Andhra Pradesh.Public Works Department sources told Express that the city currently has adequate water resources only for the next five months and so the letter was sent to the Andhra Pradesh government.“We have asked the Andhra government to release four tmc feet of water which is due from January to April besides the usual quota of eight tmc feet from July to October,” PWD sources said.The engineering chief has sent the proposal to the Andhra government which has formed a high level committee for State Water Regulation and Monitoring. The proposal to release the water is under consideration of the committee, a source said.Last year, the State government got six tmcft of water from June to May 31. However, the State is expecting a normal monsoon this year so that the four reservoirs — Poondi, Cholavaram, Red Hills and Chembarampakkam — which meet Chennai’s water requirement, get six tmc feet of water.PWD sources said that water in all the reservoirs is adequate and the city would benefit from the release of water from Mettur and Veeranam lake.Sources said it would take another 10 to 15 days for water to reach Veeranam.Currently, the four reservoirs have a storage level of 6,174 million cubic feet of water against the total capacity of 11,057 mcft. However, the storage as on same day last year was 5,631 mcft.Interestingly, the total water supply through pipeline by Chennai Metro Water is 685 million litres a day while through lorries it is 16.34 million litres a day as compared to 511.79 million litres a day in 2010 through pipeline and 16.27 million litres a day through tankers. The total supply of water in Chennai is 773.85 million litres a day.