The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Kandaleru water release begins

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Nov 24, 2004

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Kandaleru water release begins

By T. Ramakrishnan

CHENNAI, NOV. 23. Responding to Tamil Nadu's plea, Andhra Pradesh today began releasing water from the Kandaleru dam for Chennai.

"At about 10-45 a.m., they (Andhra Pradesh irrigation authorities) opened the shutters. The initial outflow was 200 cubic feet per second (cusecs). They have assured to increase the discharge gradually," says a senior official of the Public Works Department.

Unlike as on previous occasions when it took a week or so for the initial flows to reach the limits of Tamil Nadu after passing through the 152 km Kandaleru-Poondi Canal, water managers expect, the realisation will be much quicker this time as the canal is wet and already some water is flowing in it. "Water might possibly reach here by the week-end," says another official.

Though at present it is 200 cusecs, the quantum may be increased to a maximum of 1,000 cusecs in the coming days.

Four tmcft sought

Tamil Nadu already conveyed to Andhra Pradesh that it required not less than four tmcft (thousand million cubic feet).

For this, the parity in inflow and outflow from the Somasila dam (located about 40 km upstream), which supplies water to Kandaleru, has to be maintained. This condition should continue for two months, the officials here say.

This morning, the storage in the Kandaleru reservoir was 8.92 tmcft. It recorded an inflow of about 2,600 cusecs. The Somasila dam has about 30 tmcft. At present, the inflow and the discharge are 2,500-3,000 cusecs.

However, a cause of concern in Andhra Pradesh is that there has not been much rainfall in the catchment areas of the Somasila and Kandaleru dams, which are also dependent on the northeast monsoon.

Effective realisation

Though water managers here acknowledge that their Andhra Pradesh counterparts are earnest in coming to Chennai's rescue, questions arise on the rate of realisation on the Tamil Nadu border.

Initially, leakage and seepage were the problems.

They have been largely overcome after substantial portions of the Kandaleru-Poondi canal were lined, thanks to the efforts of the Andhra Pradesh Government and financial support of Sri Sathya Sai Central Trust.

But, what has become a "permanent feature" is illegal tapping en route.

In the past, field officials did take action against those who indulged in the activity but they could not sustain the drive for long.

Earlier, the rate of realisation was about 30 per cent. "In view of the improvement works and the present climate, we expect it to be around 50 per cent," say the officials.

This morning, the combined storage of Red Hills, Cholavaram and Satyamurthi Sagar at Poondi was 1.171 tmcft (capacity 7.412 tmcft). The Chembarampakkam tank, used for supplementing the city supply, has 0.502 tmcft.

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