Metrowater may begin daily supply in Chennai

CHENNAI: The city has plenty of drinking water with at least 80% of its five water reservoirs is full after last week’s rains and the spell immediately preceding Cyclone Nivar.
Noting that the five water bodies, plus Veeranam lake in Cuddalore district, together hold 8.5 million cubic feet (tmc) water, which is enough for about nine-month requirement of Chennai, an official said Metrowater has now decided to scale up water release for drinking water purposes, from the current 750MLD to 830MLD.

At present, water supply in core areas of the city is on alternate days. With the increase in storage levels, Metrowater is contemplating daily supply to residents. “The government will make an announcement in this regard soon,” the official said.
“With this comfortable storage position, it was decided to increase the piped water supply to the residents in core areas,” he said.
For the first time since the Chennai deluge in 2015, public works department released water from Chembarambakkam. It was, however, scaled down from 9,000cusecs on Wednesday to 1,000 cusecs on Thursday.
Simultaneously, Metrowater increased drawal from Chembarambakkam – from the earlier 75MLD to 100MLD, it is now drawing 220MLD -- for drinking water supply.
There is a forecast that another low-pressure area will form in the Bay of Bengal in the next few days bringing more rain, said an officer, adding: “In such a situation, storing water will become a problem and it has to be released into the sea. With a view to avoid such a situation, it was decided to increase the piped supply to the city residents.”
Also, the Srisailam and Somasila reservoirs in neighbouring Andhra Pradesh are nearing full capacity and the third reservoir, Kandaleru, is slowly getting filled. Once it is full, TN PWD officials can request their counterparts to release water from there through the Krishna canal.