The Hindu                 30.05.2013

City pins all its hopes on Krishna water

Release from AP to begin next month; officials say this will help tide over mounting crisis.

There may just be light at the end of the tunnel for the city’s households, currently reeling under a severe water shortage.

The
Water Resources Department (WRD) is pinning its hopes on the release of
Krishna water from Andhra Pradesh in mid-June to tide over the crisis
in the city.

Krishna water, released from Kandaleru
reservoir, is crucial for Chennaiites, particularly at a time when the
city’s four reservoirs have only 20 per cent of their total storage
capacity.

Last year too, water discharge from the neighbouring state saved the city from scarcity for over nine months, when rains failed.

By
mid-June, the city will get 300-400 cubic feet of water per second
(cusec). One cusec is 28.3 litres of water flowing every second. If the
volume of Krishna water promised to the city is released, Chennai will
have enough daily water supply to meet its present needs, WRD officials
said.

At present, the Kandaleru reservoir has 12.77
tmcft of water. “We can draw nearly 5 tmcft, after which the reservoir
will hit its dead storage limit,” said an official.

The
release of Krishna water to the city was suspended last month, to
repair the damaged portion of the Kandaleru-Poondi canal in
Ubbalamadugu, Andhra Pradesh. From last June, when supply began, until
last month, nearly 4.7 thousand million cubic feet of water (tmcft) had
been provided. This went a long way in helping maintain storage in the
city’s reservoirs for several months, officials said.

Sources at WRD said that work is on at a fast pace to make temporary arrangement to bring in the water as soon as possible.

Meanwhile,
authorities are drawing every last drop they can from the city’s
reservoirs, to ensure drinking water supply to residents. WRD officials
said the reservoirs in Poondi, Red Hills and Chembarambakkam had only
enough to contribute to drinking water supply until the end of July.
Krishna water, and rains in June, they said would hopefully help with
the shortage.

Chennai Metrowater is also pumping out
water from the Cholavaram reservoir, which has already hit its dead
storage limit. About 10 million cubic feet of water available in the
parched water body is being drawn using pumps and diverted to the Red
Hills reservoir.

“We did not want to waste even the
little water available. The reservoirs are losing five million cubic
feet of water per day due to the harsh sun,” said an official. Even this
exercise is set to end in a few days, once Cholavaram is rendered bone
dry.

The last time storage in all four water bodies dipped drastically, was in 2004.

Residents of several areas are already encountering problems of dwindling water supply or receive water only once in two days.

“I’m
waiting for the supply to resume after two days. I had to manage with
the little water available in my sump as well as packaged drinking
water. If the authorities tell us when piped water supply will be
provided, we can at least store some for future use,” said S. Rani, a
resident of Gandhi Nagar, Adyar.