CHENNAI: Intermittent rain over the last few weeks and the continuous inflow of Krishna river water from Andhra Pradesh increased water levels in the four reservoirs, while the onset of the northeast monsoon on Wednesday brought further cheer. The combined storage level of water in reservoirs at Poondi, Cholavaram, Red Hills and Chembarambakkam was 5,808 mcft (million cubic feet) on Wednesday against the full capacity of 11,257 mcft.
The level in the Poondi reservoir, which began rising since the arrival of Krishna water on September 20, reached 1,295 mcft by mid-October and touched 1,518 mcft a couple of days ago.
A senior PWD official said the Andhra Pradesh authorities had reduced the release of water over the past week, mainly due to rain in Tamil Nadu and for irrigation purposes in that state. So far, AP has released 2.2 tmcft (thousand million cubic feet). The release of water, flowing into the Poondi reservoir at 450 cusecs (cubic feet per second), is expected to go up by November-end. Water is diverted to Chembarambakkam reservoir since a few days ago, said the official.
On Wednesday, Cholavaram had 118 mcft, Red Hills 2,020 mcft and Chembarambakkam 2,147 mcft. With the rainy season having begun, the reservoirs are expected to get more water and Metrowater can continue piped supply till next summer, he added.