Chennai: 1 tmcft Krishna water realised until last week – Times of India

CHENNAI: The city’s water position is comfortable. A few days ago, 1,000 million cubic feet (tmcft) was realised in Tamil Nadu after neighbouring Andhra Pradesh released the water from its Kandaleru reservoir.
A senior public works department (PWD) official said that during the last water year (July 2020 to June 2021) the AP government released 8.24 tmcft, the highest so far since the two states signed the agreement to share water.
This year, in July alone, the AP government released 1 tmcft, which was realised in Poondi reservoir. In April and May, the Poondi reservoir reached dead storage levels and PWD authorities began carrying out repair work in the Krishna canal through which water from AP reaches Poondi reservoir.
Since the beginning of the current water year, the Andhra Pradesh government has been releasing water, the quantity varying every day. On an average, water at the rate of nearly 700 cusecs (cubic feet per second) is being realised at the reservoir in Poondi, he said.
As per the original agreement, the AP government is to release 12 tmcft annually but has not exceeded 8.25 tmcft, said the official. As on Saturday, the Poondi reservoir was receiving water at 670 cusecs through the Krishna canal. Water received in Poondi is released into Red Hills and Chembarambakkam reservoirs as Poondi does not have a treatment facility. Metrowater had set up treatment plants in both Red Hills and Chembarambakkam reservoirs, said the official.
“We have asked the AP government to release 4 tmcft by next month. The Kandaleru reservoir in AP has a full capacity of 68 tmcft and the present level is 36 tmcft. So we hope the AP government will release the required water to TN,” the PWD official said. As on Saturday, the five reservoirs supply water to Chennai city had a combined storage level of 7,884 mcft against the capacity of 11,757 mcft (67%). Last year, on the same day, the combined storage level was 4,666 mcft, added the official.