No water in a reservoir that supplies Chennai -Governance Now

No water in a reservoir that supplies Chennai

Chennai is yet again facing an acute water crisis

Shivani Chaturvedi | June 29, 2017 | Chennai

#Chembarambakkam #Cholavaram reservoir #no water #water crisis #Chennai #Redhills #Poondi

Dry Cholavaram reservoir. (Photo courtesy: Chennai metropolitan water supply and sewerage board)

There is not even a drop of water in Cholavaram reservoir, says an officer from Chennai metropolitan water supply and sewerage board.

The Cholavaram reservoir, one of the main water sources to Chennai, currently has zero million cubic feet (mcft) of water, according to data provided by Chennai metropolitan water supply and sewerage board.

Currently, the combined storage level of drinking water reservoirs, Chembarambakkam, Redhills, Cholavaram and Poondi is 106 mcft. Last year the combined water level in the four reservoirs was 4,365 mcft.

The total storage capacity of the four reservoirs is more than 10,000 mcft.

Because of reservoirs running dry, Chennai’s lifeline now are agriculture wells, Neyveli corporation mines, stone quarries in Mangad near Chennai and two 100 millions of liters per day (mld) desalination plants, which are supplying water to the city's population of 7 million.

“For the past one month, we are able to supply only 500 mld against the requirement of 830 mld. We are left with no choice than to reduce water supply as all the reservoirs are almost dry,” says the officer.

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