The storage at Poondi, one of the major reservoirs contributing to the city’s water supply, has been steadily on the rise over the past week with Krishna water inflows coming in.
Chennai has so far received nearly 220 million cubic feet (mcft) of Krishna water since September 28 when the water touched the inter-State border of Kandaleru-Poondi canal in Uthukottai, Tiruvallur.
This is equal to nearly 17 days of drinking water supply, at the present rate of 675 million litres a day. Chennai Metrowater is now supplying water on alternate days due to want of resources.
According to officials of the Water Resources Department, the reservoir, which is the prime storage point of Krishna water, received a considerable inflow of 620 cusecs (cubic feet per second) on Wednesday.
This is perhaps the first time that the reservoir is getting such copious inflow of Krishna water in recent years.
The storage of the Poondi reservoir has increased from 20 mcft last week to nearly 198 mcft on Wednesday.
Combined storage
At present, the combined storage of the four reservoirs remains at 996 mcft, which is about 9 % of total capacity.
“If we continue to receive the same volume of water for another two weeks, the storage in Poondi reservoir will go up by 1,000 mcft,” said an official.
This would be sufficient to cater to the city’s water requirement till the onset of the northeast monsoon.