Deccan Chronicle 26.09.2009

Water levels in city reservoirs plummet

Chennai
Sept. 25: Water levels have dipped at the three reservoirs of Chennai, Poondi, Red Hills and Chembarambakkam, which give much of the drinking water to the city.

As of Friday, the water level at Poondi reservoir stands at 393 million cubic feet (mcft), while it was 689 mcft in the same period last year.

While the level is 1,434 mcft at Red Hills, compared to 1,622 mcft during 2008, the storage at Chembarambakkam stood at 531 mcft as against 1,291 mcft last year.

Mr Swaran Singh, chairman and managing director of the Tamil Nadu Water Supply and Drainage Board, assured that there would be no water shortage in the city since the southern and western districts of the state have received more rains. Moreover, the onset of monsoon is expected soon, he said. “We have some issues in supply of water to Hosur, Dharmapuri, Vellore and Krishnagiri, which receive water from Palar River,” he said. “However, we have initiated some projects to supply water to these areas.”

Mr Shiv Das Meena, managing director of the Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board, said that though it was a fact that the storage in the reservoirs had come down when compared to last year, the department had taken all possible measures to avert any crisis.

He pointed out that the department was maintaining normal supply of water to the city and its tail-end areas through piped water supply and trucks.
“Chennai gets water from Veeranam and Krishna projects, which helps us to compensate for the poor storage in these reservoirs,” he said.

“We have been receiving inflow of 650 cusecs in Veeranam, which makes the situation better. With the onset of monsoon that replenishes our reservoirs, we assure Chennaiites that there would not be any disruption in the supply of drinking water.”