Tamil Nadu asks Andhra Pradesh to temporarily suspend Krishna water supply from July 1 as Chennai reservoirs fill up

The Tamil Nadu Water Resources Department has in a letter requested the Andhra Pradesh government for a short-term suspension of the Krishna water supply from the Kandaleru reservoir from July 1 onwards as reservoirs in Chennai are currently filled up to capacity levels.

TN City Desk

Updated Jun 28, 2022, 18:18 IST

Krishna Water Supply

Photo : PTI

Chennai: The Tamil Nadu Water Resources Department has in a letter requested the Andhra Pradesh government for a short-term suspension of the Krishna water supply from the Kandaleru reservoir from July 1 onwards as there is no space to store the water with reservoirs in Chennai filled up to capacity levels.

Since May this year, Chennai has received around 2.4 Thousand Million Cubic feet (tmcft) of Krishna water which was released from the Kandaleru reservoir in Andhra Pradesh. This was one of the highest volumes of water released from Krishna to Chennai city, Tamil Nadu water resources department officials told IANS.

The water resource department has requested the Andhra Pradesh government to temporarily stop the supply of water as the state does not have the facility to store any more water. The two main reservoirs in Chennai, Chembarambakkam and Red Hills are filled up.

For the first time in many years, the gates of the Chembarambakkam reservoir, one of the five key sources of water supply in Chennai, were opened in the month of June, last week. The gates were opened to release surplus water from the reservoir as a precautionary measure to avoid overflow when the city witnesses heavy rain.

The Water Resources Department officials of Tamil Nadu have, however, appealed to the Andhra Pradesh government to resume the release of water from September onwards.

While the Poondy reservoir in the state is only filled up to one-third of its capacity, the Water Resources Department of Tamil Nadu is reluctant to fill the storage. Sources in the Water Resources Department of Tamil Nadu told IANS that the department was planning to replace the gates of the reservoir and then increase the storage in the water body at Poondi after the completion of this work.

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