The Hindu : Front Page : Water to reach State border by Wednesday

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Monday, Aug 06, 2007
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Water to reach State border by Wednesday

K. Lakshmi

— Photo: M. Vedhan

For easy flow: Repair work in the Kandaleru-Poondi canal has been suspended to enable free flow of water from Kandaleru.

CHENNAI: Water from the Kandaleru reservoir in Andhra Pradesh, which was released on Friday, is expected to reach Uthukottai on the inter-state border by Wednesday morning.

According to Public Works Department officials, water has flowed till around 72 km of the Kandaleru-Poondi canal as on Sunday morning. The total distance of the canal within the Andhra Pradesh limits is 152 km.

From Uthukottai, the water has to further travel 25 km to reach the storage point at the Poondi reservoir.

The discharge from the Kandaleru reservoir is being maintained at 300-500 cubic feet per second (cusecs).

It is expected to be stepped up in the coming days to facilitate quicker realisation of water in the Tamil Nadu limits. “We have asked for release of 1,000 cusecs, which is the full capacity of the canal at Uthukottai, to meet the city’s water demand,” said a PWD official.

Water discharged from Kandaleru reservoir, which has a storage capacity of 24.7 thousand million cubic feet (tmcft), would cater to domestic consumption en route before it reaches the State border.

Repair work at the canal towards the Poondi reservoir, initiated two months ago, has been suspended to enable free flow of water.

It would be resumed in January after the realisation of water from the neighbouring state, officials said.

Measures have been taken to store the Kandaleru water in the Poondi reservoir, which now has 217 mcft of water.

A Metrowater official said once the storage was stepped up, water may be either diverted to the reservoirs in Red Hills or Chembarambakkam for distribution to the city.

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