Metro Water likely to pump Veeranam water by week-end

Chennai:

After Krishna, now it is Cauvery river water’s turn to quench the thirst of city as Veeranam tank, which has been one of the main water source of Chennai, has been bubbling again with fresh inflow.

Public Works department officials told Express that Veeranam tank which had dried up got water from Vadavar channel from lower anicut on the Coleroon river.

“Although Cauvery water reached Veeranam tank on Wednesday, but it won’t be possible to supply the water soon as the lake is huge and it will take time to fill. Besides the intake well is on one end of the lake,” said a Metro Water official.

“We expect to resume supply from Veeranam tank by the week-end,” he said. He said the water will be extracted through the intake well and pumped into 230 km pipeline that links the city.

Interestingly, with Cauvery water flowing into Veeranam, it would add another 180 MLD to city’s water distribution channels. But then Metro water officials are still pinning their hopes on the monsoon to ensure total piped water supply to the city.

Currently, the city has about 1,058 million cubic feet of water in its reservoir. Due to Krishna water inflow in Poondi, the reservoir has about 191 million cubic feet of water only.

Reservoir                      Full capacity                  Storage
Poondi                         3231 mcft                      191 mcft
Cholavaram                   881 mcft                         000
Red Hills                      3300 mcft                        356 mcft
Chembarambakkam     3645 mcft                        511 mcft

Total                   11057 mcft            1058 mcft