The cleaning of the feeder canal from Poondi to Red Hills reservoir in progress.
| Photo Credit: Special arrangement
With Krishna water supply from Andhra Pradesh improving consistently this week, prospects are bright for good storage in the city’s reservoirs.
To enable smooth transfer of water among major reservoirs, the Water Resources Department (WRD) has started work to clean channels that link waterbodies, ahead of schedule.
The entry point of Kandaleru-Poondi Canal received nearly 460 cubic feet per second (cusecs) of Krishna water on Thursday. It travels another 25 km to reach Poondi reservoir, one of the prime drinking water sources for the city.
“We expect the amount of Krishna water received at Poondi reservoir to go up to 550-600 cusecs in the next few days. Andhra Pradesh authorities have assured us that they would increase discharge from Kandaleru reservoir, and provide water continuously to Chennai this year,” an official said.
Steady supply from the Krishna has increased the total storage in the city’s reservoirs by nearly 1,000 million cubic feet (mcft) over the past one month. Water from the neighbouring State is vital to boost storage in the five reservoirs, which contribute a major share of the 1,108 million litres of water supplied daily to the city.
The five waterbodies, including Chembarambakkam, have 58% of their total storage. At present, the department has stopped transferring water from Poondi to other reservoirs to step up its storage.
The WRD has started work to remove vegetation, and restore the eroded banks of feeder and link canals to enable free flow of water to Chembarambakkam and Red Hills reservoirs. “We are carrying out the works during this Southwest monsoon to facilitate free flow of water. They will continue till the year-end,” an official said. The works, worth ₹91 lakh, will also cover portions of Kandaleru-Poondi Canal in Tiruvallur district.
The WRD has written to Andhra Pradesh government, seeking accounts for ₹153 crore declared as pending payment towards Krishna water supply project and maintenance cost.
Published – June 27, 2025 12:40 am IST
