The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Poondi reservoir receives steady inflow of Krishna water

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Tuesday, Jun 28, 2011
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Poondi reservoir receives steady inflow of Krishna water

K. Lakshmi

The volume of water realised at the State border may increase

— File Photo

IN FULL FLOW: A view of the Poondi reservoir, which is used to store Krishna water received from Andhra Pradesh.

CHENNAI: The Poondi reservoir, the prime storage point for Chennai's drinking water needs, has so far received a steady inflow of Krishna water from Andhra Pradesh since Friday morning, sufficient for the city's supply for two days.

Officials of the Water Resources Department said on Monday that the State's entry point of the Kandaleru Poondi canal in Uthukottai, Tiruvallur district, received 300 cubic feet per second of water (cusecs) on Monday. Of this, nearly 260 cusecs reached the waterbody at Poondi owing to evaporation loss. (One cusec would yield 28.3 litres of water).

The reservoir has realised about 70 million cubic feet of water (mcft) over the past three days. Chennai Metrowater draws nearly 35 mcft daily from the city reservoirs to supply 710 million litres a day. Nearly 1,000 mcft is required for a month's drinking water supply. Only if the Poondi reservoir receives 700 cusecs daily, 8,000 mcft of water can be realised in four months, which is the volume assured by Andhra Pradesh between July and October.

Officials of the WRD expect the volume of water realised at the State border to increase to 400 cusecs on Tuesday. The water from Kandaleru reservoir, which is discharged for Andhra Pradesh's irrigation and domestic needs and Chennai, has been stepped up to 1,500 cusecs.

About 400 cusecs from Poondi reservoir is being transmitted through link canal to the reservoir at Chembarampakkam to boost its storage. Water would be transported to that at Red Hills too once the repair work of feeder canal linking Red Hills reservoir is completed in a week, an official said.

On Monday, the total storage of the four reservoirs, including the one at Cholavaram, stood at 5,164 mcft against the capacity of 11,057 mcft. The reservoirs suffer loss of 6 mcft daily owing to evaporation.

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