The Water Resources Department has represented to the Andhra Pradesh authorities to suspend release of Krishna water to Chennai till March-end.
The five reservoirs that meet city’s water requirements are now filled up to 96.3% of their storage capacity of 11.75 tmc ft as on Saturday. Poondi reservoir, which is the city’s prime storage point, continues to receive 320 cusecs (cubic feet per second) of Krishna water through Kandaleru-Poondi (KP) canal.
The department has urged Andhra Pradesh to resume Krishna water release from April after a short break.
Officials of the WRD said all the lakes that support Chennai’s water supply were filled up. Krishna water received is distributed to other lakes from where it is supplied to Chennai.
This has helped maintain the storage in the lakes as water drawal is avoided.
“We have requested the Andhra Pradesh authorities to stop water discharge till March-end so that the surplus water does not get wasted. Nearly 1,100 cusecs of water is being released into KP canal for requirements of areas enroute such as Tirupati and Kalahasti and the remaining amount reached Poondi,” said an official.
As on Saturday, the city has received 7.2 tmcft of Krishna water since September last year.
About 500 mcft was discharged for a month from May last year and that accounts for nearly 7.7 tmcft so far in 2020-21. This was the highest quantum of water received since 2011-12 when Chennai got nearly 8.19 tmcft., the officials said.
The department plans to start repair the slope along the 25-km stretch of KP canal between the State’s entry point and Poondi reservoir.
“We plan to rectify the slope particularly between 4th and 10th km of the canal to prevent it from sliding. Tendering process is in progress and work will be started soon,” the official added.