Chennai Metrowater on Saturday started drawing water from the abandoned quarries in Sikkarayapuram near Mangadu in order to augment the city’s dwindling water supply.
This is the first buffer source that the agency has tapped, as the storage in the main reservoirs is dismal. Among the four reservoirs, the storage in the Chembarambakkkam lake dipped to the lowest at 21 million cubic feet on Saturday.
Water in the Chembarambakkam reservoir will last another week and will be tapped until the turbidity level allows.
The inflow of Krishna water into the Poondi reservoir also dropped to a minimal 10 cusecs on Saturday, said officials of Chennai Metrowater.
A dip in supply
At present, Metrowater provides a supply of 550 million litres of water on alternate days and this could dip further in the coming weeks. Initially, nearly 15 million litres per day (mld) will be drawn from the 22 abandoned quarries in Sikkarayapuram.
This will be stepped up in the coming days. Metrowater plans to supply a maximum of about 30 mld from the quarries and transport it through a 4.5-km-long pipeline to the Chembarambakkam treatment plant. With the given storage, the quarries have a yield of 3,000 mld and could sustain supply for 100 days. The water agency has spent ₹18 crore on the project, including the pumping machinery that would draw nearly 1.25 million litres per hour. There are also plans to draw 10 mld of water from 12 more quarries in Erumaiyur soon. Bids received are being evaluated and the source would be tapped for city water supply, officials said. A population of nearly 3 lakh in areas such as Mogappair, Ambattur and Anna Nagar would benefit directly due to the water from the quarries, officials added.