The Tamil Nadu government has written to the Andhra Pradesh government, requesting the latter suspend water supply from the Krishna river from the Kandaleru reservoir from July 1. The Tamil Nadu Water Resources Department asked the Andhra government to suspend the water supply from July 1 onwards, as the reservoirs in Chennai are filled up.
From May 1 onwards, Chennai has received around 2.4 tmcft (thousand million cubic feet) of Krishna water released from the Kandaleru reservoir in Andhra Pradesh. Officials of the Tamil Nadu Water Resources Department told IANS that this was one of the highest volumes of water released from Krishna to Chennai city. The department has urged the Andhra Pradesh government to temporarily stop the supply of water as the state did not have facilities to store any more water. The two main reservoirs in Chennai, Chembarambakkam and Red Hills, are filled up, the officials said.
It may be noted that the shutter gates of Chembarambakkam reservoir were opened last week to release water as a precautionary measure when there were heavy rains in the city. The department had on Monday let out a small quantity of water. The Water Resources Department officials of Tamil Nadu have, however, appealed to the Andhra Pradesh government to release water from September onwards.
The move to suspend Krishna water supply comes even as the Poondi reservoir is only filled up to one-third of its capacity. However, sources in the Water Resources Department of Tamil Nadu told IANS that the department was planning to replace the shutters of the reservoir and the storage in the water body at Poondi will be increased once the works are finished.