Sunday, Nov 30, 2003
Sunday, Nov 30, 2003 |
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Tamil Nadu
By T. Ramakrishnan
The combined storage of the city reservoirs today was 293 mcft (million cubic feet), against the total capacity of 7,412 mcft. Officials say the storage can last, at best, one more month even with the present drawal of four mcft daily, after allowing for unutilisable water. As per official data, the combined storage of Poondi, Cholavaram and Red Hills reservoirs, in the corresponding period, is the lowest in 35 years. The previous lowest was 880 mcft on December 1, 1987. Similarly, in terms of rainfall, this year has been one of the worst. So far, the reservoirs recorded an average rainfall of 744 mm, against the normal annual rainfall of 1,400 mm. Given the characteristics of the northeast monsoon, Chennai and the surrounding areas receive less rainfall in December than in October and November. "The city normally gets 130 mm in December," says a Meteorological department official. In the last two months, Chennai registered 280 mm against the anticipated 580 mm, a shortfall of about 50 per cent. This gloomy scenario explains the visit of the Chief Minister, Jayalalithaa, to Hyderabad, seeking release of three tmcft (thousand million cubic feet) from the Kandaleru dam. On Friday, Ms. Jayalalithaa met the Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister, N. Chandrababu Naidu, and urged him to come to the rescue of the city. Water managers here are hopeful that a "positive response" will come from their counterparts in a few days. Apart from Krishna water, the managers are hoping against hope that there will be some rain to provide the much-needed relief. There were instances of the city and its surroundings experiencing cyclones after November. In December 1996, a cyclone, which crossed the coast near Mamallapuram, brought heavy to the city and the surrounding areas. A senior Meteorological officer says that wind patterns are still favourable, though Chennai, till now, has not witnessed heavy rain. One feature of this year's northeast monsoon, contrary to the usual pattern, is that even in areas where precipitation has been better, rain spells have not lasted more than for three or four days. But another officer says the city residents can very well conclude that that the monsoon is over. "Even if some storms come, they are more likely to concentrate in the southern parts,"
Contingency plan
Meanwhile, Metrowater officials are working out a contingency plan, taking into account all possibilities such non-availability of Krishna water and absence of further rain. "At present, we are providing 225 million litres to domestic consumers on alternate days. On non-supply days, we are supplying 30 million litres through lorries. Besides, we are providing industries 40-50 million litres a day," says a Metrowater official, adding that the Chief Minister has instructed to maintain the current rate of supply until the situation improves. About 60-70 per cent of the total demand is met through groundwater sources. In addition to Metrowater's deep borewells on northwestern fringes of the city, private wells contribute substantially to the supply. "We will be focussing on tapping sources in and around the city first before going to far-off places such as Neyveli and Erode," notes the official.
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