Metro Water on Friday added 21 more tankers to its fleet of 335 to quench the thirst of Chennaiites as the water levels in the reservoirs slowly dwindle.

A senior Metro Water official said the new tankers had better capacity than the existing ones and would be supplying 20,000 kilolitres of water per trip. These tankers would make 320 trips a day and were different from the ones in the fleet. “Earlier tankers had a capacity of 9,000 and 6,000 kilolitres per trip. The new tankers will have a capacity of 20,000 kilolitres per trip,” said the Metro Water official.

This is also part of Metro Water’s contingency plan to ensure that the city gets proper water supply as the water levels in the reservoirs dwindle. Currently the four reservoirs – Poondi, Cholavaram, Red Hills and Chembarambakkam – have about 25 per cent of total water.

The Metro Water spokesman said the need for new water tankers arose after it installed tanks on streets to provide water to people.

To beat the heat, Metro Water plans to procure 15 MLD of additional water from Poondi and Tamaraipakkam wellfields, besides getting additional 20 MLD from Neyveli acquifer and 55 MLD from other sources in Neyveli.

But all hopes are now on the monsoon. “If we get a normal monsoon, then the water crisis may be over. We are pinning our hopes on a thunder storm which is likely to bring rain on Monday,” a Metro Water source said.

Meanwhile, Water Resource Department sources told Express that Chennai would get around 300 cusecs of water a day from the first week of June once the temporary works by Andhra Pradesh irrigation department in Uppalamadagu canal near Kalalahasti get over. But the city would get the full quota of 1,000 cusecs a day only after the repair works are done.

Water supply from Kandleru reservoir was suspended after the repair works was taken up. As per an inter-state agreement in 1976, Tamil Nadu is eligible for 15 thousand million cubic feet of water between April and June under the Telugu Ganga project.