Urban News

The Hindu  02.12.2010

Four reservoirs may fill up in 10 days

K. Lakshmi

CHENNAI: The four reservoirs that are crucial to the city's water supply will be filled to their capacity in 10 days, according to officials of the Water Resources Department.

Officials of the WRD said that at present, the reservoirs in Poondi, Cholavaram, Red Hills and Chembarampakkam are getting most of the inflow from the Kandaleru reservoir in Andhra Pradesh. As the rainfall in the neighbouring areas of the waterbodies has decreased, the inflow from catchment areas has also come down.

The combined storage of the reservoirs on Monday stood at 8,233 million cubic feet (mcft) against the total capacity of 11,057 mcft. The storage is 2,219 mcft more than the level registered during the corresponding period last year, the officials said.

The reservoir in Poondi is receiving about 790 cubic feet per second (cusecs) of water through the Kandaleru Poondi canal. Subsequently, water from Poondi is released to step up storage in the other three waterbodies. “We still have a spare capacity of 2,400 mcft in the reservoirs that could be filled with the Krishna water,” an official said.

The level in Poondi is being maintained at 34.02 ft against its maximum of 35 ft. Three to five percent of the storage is lost owing to evaporation, the official said.

Officials of the Chennai Metrowater said that with the resources available in the waterbodies, residents could expect uninterrupted daily supply for another year. Chennai is being supplied with 670 million litres daily. The entry point of Kandaleru Poondi canal in Uthukottai has realised 2,631 mcft of Krishna water since early October.

Meanwhile, Veeranam tank, which is also used to augment water supply to the city, has a storage of 1,051 mcft against its capacity of 1,465 mcft. Nearly 5,000 cusecs is being discharged from the tank, the officials said.

The Hindu       27.11.2010

City awash in water woes

SEARCH FOR SOLUTIONS:Mayor G. Thenmozhi and Corporation Commissioner S. Sebastine inspecting Madakulam tank on Friday.

MADURAI: Inclement weather in the past few days has taken a toll on the destitute — bodies of three unidentified persons were found in different parts of the city on Wednesday night.

The deceased appeared to have made their living by begging and had died owing to lack of proper shelter and poor health, Corporation Commissioner S. Sebastine said. “Five other persons were admitted to the Government Rajaji Hospital with the help of Medical Superintendent,” he added. Medical teams had been advised to admit such people with ill-health to the Corporation hospitals and provide them medical care and food.

Medical officers and other staff had been advised to report for duty to provide 24-hour medical care. Two teams had been deployed along ‘Bodi Line' and Ellis Nagar.

Besides these two residential areas, houses downstream Madakulam in areas such as Vanamamalai Nagar, Periyar Nagar, Duraisamy Nagar and Sringeri Nagar continue to remain inundated.

Blame game

Meanwhile, the blame game has started as officials of different departments finding fault with each other for the marooned residential areas. Corporation officials claimed that the Public Works Department (PWD) letting off a huge quantum of water from the Madakulam tank had submerged the residential areas. The PWD officials complained of unfinished lining works on the Kiruthumal channel.

Besides, the Corporation had failed to take up minimum precautionary steps to remove blockades in the channel before the monsoon set in. Though Mr. Sebastine admitted to the deficiency, he said that since the lining work had been handed over the contractor and any desilting work taken up by the Corporation would mean indirectly helping the contractor with the local body funds.

However, the flow of water this year was unexpectedly high. Besides, only these two areas were affected whereas the lining work had facilitated smooth flow of water in other parts of the city.

Roads to be repaired

The already battered roads had been further damaged by the recent rains, particularly in many places such as Kalavasal, Madakulam, Palanganatham, Ellis Nagar, K.K. Nagar, New Jail Road, Arasaradi, Kamarajar Salai, Melur Road and Industrial Estate. The Commissioner said that all potholes would be filled with ready-mix concrete soon. Re-laying of roads would be taken up at a cost of Rs. 33 crore after the rains.

Mayor G. Thenmozhi, Deputy Mayor P.M. Mannan, Chief Engineer K. Sakthivel and Deputy Commissioner K. Tharpagaraj inspected the Madakulam tank and the Kiruthumal channel. They also visited the newly-constructed Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board houses where the flood-affected people of Ellis Nagar and ‘Bodi Line' were accommodated.