The Times of India 01.02.2010

Water managers at ease as T-strife ebbs

Vivek Narayanan, TNN, 1 February 2010, 01:22am IST

CHENNAI: The levels of the four reservoirs supplying water to Chennai city have risen and fallen with the intensity of the agitation for a separate state of Telangana in Andhra Pradesh. At the peak of the movement, Krishna water to Chennai was stopped and the storage levels fell.

Now, with the situation in the neighbouring state appearing to have become less volatile, the supply has resumed and water managers are happy. At 6 pm on Saturday, nearly 400 cusecs of Krishna water were released into the canal from the Kandaleru reservoir.

Earlier, the officials of the Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (CMWSSB) or Metrowater had promised a water scarcity-free summer but the stopping of Krishna water had left them worried.

As on Friday, the combined water levels in the four reservoirs was 6,866 million cubic feet (mcft). In Poondi, the level was 1,572 mcft against a capacity of 3,231 mcft. In Chembarambakkam it was 2289 mcft against the capacity of 3645 mcft. In Red Hills, the level was 2,318 mcft against the capacity of 3,300 mcft and in Cholavaram it was 687 mcft against the capacity of 881 mcft.

In December 2009, the combined level in the four reservoirs was 7,545 mcft; in November that year, it was 6,040 mcft.
“In November, there were rains and the Krishna water supply also continued. On December 12, Krishna water was stopped because of the Telangana agitation and there haven’t been sufficient rains since. Hence the levels have gone down,” said a senior CMWSSB official.

The official said the situation was bound to improve as the Andhra Pradesh government had resumed the supply of Krishna water from Saturday. “The water is expected to reach ‘zero’ point on Monday. We are expecting to get 400 cusecs, but we will know the exact quantity once the water reaches the point,” he added.

He said the water would be supplied till April. “The supply from Krishna began in September 2008 and lasted till April 1, 2009. Then after a brief period, it resumed on September 18 and continued till December 12. We got around 4,000 mcft during this period,” said the official.

The Hindu 31.01.2010

State formulates Rs.3,875-crore water security action plan

T. Ramakrishnan

CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu has formulated a Rs.3,875-crore comprehensive water security action plan, covering 31 districts.

The amount sought by the State government from the Centre is proposed to be utilised in three years, the remaining years of the present Plan period (2009 to 2012), for rural drinking water projects. The Tamil Nadu Water Supply and Drainage (TWAD) Board has prepared the plan after consulting the stakeholders concerned.

Broadly, the plan has three components — the provision for coverage of uncovered population, sustainability of sources and systems besides rainwater harvesting and the installation of artificial recharge structures. In-house plan for capacity building and awareness creation among the community are the other components.

For taking up the coverage component, the State government has sought allotment of around Rs.2,250 crore. While the component of sustainability accounts for Rs.965 crore, the components of roof top harvesting and installation of recharge shaft amount to around Rs.660 crore.

Sources say the preparation of such a plan has now become mandatory for States under the Central government’s guidelines on National Rural Drinking Water Programme (NRDWP).

The Centre has made it clear to the State governments that it will release funds for rural drinking water projects only on the submission of such plans. Before 2006, Tamil Nadu was getting, on an average, Rs.125 crore from the Centre for rural water projects. After 2006, this was in the range of Rs.200 crore to Rs.250 crore. During 2008-2009, the Central allocation was Rs.250 crore. An additional Rs. 46 crore was allotted on the last day of the previous financial year. This year, the allocation was Rs. 327 crore. The State government has been setting apart approximately Rs.400 crore annually. The principle behind the plan is to mark the shift of paradigm on the rural water supply front from measuring the coverage in terms of litres per capita per day to ensuring drinking water security for all in the community.