Tamil Nadu Asks Andhra Pradesh To Suspend Krishna Water Supply From July 1

Tamil Nadu Water Resources Department urged Andhra Pradesh government to temporarily stop the supply of water as the state did not have a facility to store any more water.

Chennai: Tamil Nadu Water Resources Department has written to Andhra Pradesh government requesting the latter to suspend Krishna water supply from the Kandaleru reservoir from July 1 onwards as the reservoirs in Chennai are filled up.

From May 1 onwards, Chennai has received around 2.4 tmcft of Krishna water released from the Kandaleru reservoir in Andhra Pradesh. Tamil Nadu water resources department officials 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 facility to store any more water. The two main reservoirs in Chennai, Chembarambakkam and Red Hills are filled up.

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 Poondi reservoir is, however, only filled up to one-third of its capacity but the Water Resources Department of Tamil Nadu is not keen on increasing its storage and the officials refused to state the reason behind this.

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.