Krishna water yet to reach T.N. border; increased discharge expected to speed up flow

Krishna water from Andhra Pradesh delayed in reaching Tamil Nadu border due to low flow velocity.

Krishna water released from Andhra Pradesh on May 5 is yet to reach Tamil Nadu border due to low flow velocity.

According to the Water Resources Department, the discharge from Kandaleru reservoir had been stepped up after a meeting with Andhra Pradesh officials at Tirupati two days ago. Krishna water, a vital source to augment city’s drinking water resources, is expected to reach the zero point of 152-km-long Kandaleru-Poondi (KP) canal in Uthukottai, Tiruvallur district in two days.

Officials of the WRD said Krishna water touched its 80-km mark of the KP canal on Thursday. Earlier, water had almost halted its flow at 143rd km of KP canal as sluices were opened en route to draw water for irrigation and drinking needs of Tirupati and Kalahasti. Dry canal bed was another reason cited for the delay in water travelling to Tamil Nadu.

“Andhra Pradesh authorities assured us that Krishna water supply will be maintained for the next spell too as sufficient storage was available in Kandaleru reservoir. It has a storage of 43.94 thousand million cubic feet (tmcft). They have increased water release to nearly 1,300 cubic feet per second (cusecs),” said the official.

The Krishna water helped augment the storage of city’s reservoirs by 600 mcft for a month since March 29 after which water release was halted for repair work in the canal.

“We elaborated on the need to ensure water with better velocity to meet the summer demand in Chennai during the meeting,” the official added.

Chennai’s five major reservoirs, which feed drinking water, have a combined storage of 7,223 mcft as of Thursday. This is 61.4% of their total capacity. The city also gets water from Veeranam tank, Cuddalore district. Officials noted that the reservoirs’ storage is still higher by a thousand mcft compared to last year. The present storage would last till the onset of Northeast monsoon later this year.