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.