Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa on Friday ordered the release of 180
MLD of water from Veeranam to the city from August 17, to quench the
thirst of the water-starved metro.

In a statement here, the Chief
Minister said storage at Veeranam lake had gone up to 935.2 million
cubic feet following the release of water from Mettur dam since August
2. The water thus received, besides being used for irrigation, could
cater to drinking water requirements of the State capital. With this in
view, she had launched the New Veeranam Scheme in her earlier tenure in
2004.

Currently, the city has about 1,018 million cubic feet of water in all of its reservoirs combined.

The
full capacity and the present storage in each of the four reservoirs
are as follows: Poondi (3,231 mcft/260 mcft), Sholavaram (nil), Red
Hills (3,300 mcft/413 mcft) and Chembarampakkam (3,645 mcft/496 mcft).

Meanwhile, Metro Water officials said the release of water from Veeranam would considerably ease the situation in the city.