Chennai’s wait for Krishna water released from Andhra Pradesh is likely to end as it is expected to reach the inter-State border on Sunday morning.
According to sources, water discharged from the Kandaleru reservoir into the Kandaleru Poondi canal for irrigation in Andhra Pradesh early this week is likely to benefit Chennai too.
However, it is taking time to reach the tail-end of the canal in Tamil Nadu, as the water flow is less.
By Saturday, Krishna water covered 141 km and it has to cover another 11 km to reach the KP canal’s inter-State border in Uthukottai, Tiruvallur district.
About 2,000 cusecs was discharged from the Kandaleru reservoir. But much of it would be used up for irrigation in the neighbouring areas before it reaches Tamil Nadu, officials said.
Krishna water, which is expected to reach Kandaleru Poondi canal’s border in Tamil Nadu on Sunday morning, will need to travel another 25 km to be stored in the Poondi reservoir, from which Chennai gets a share of its drinking water supply.
The release of water from the neighbouring State gains significance, as Chennai’s water sources are fast depleting and the city is likely to face acute scarcity this summer.
Water supply reduced
The four city reservoirs, which mainly supply drinking water to Chennai, have only 8% of their total capacity.
The volume of water supply in the city has been reduced to 550 million litres on alternate days.
As per the agreement between the two States, Tamil Nadu has to be provided 4,000 million cubic feet (mcft) between January and April under the Krishna Water Supply project.