Cattle graze amidst tall weeds and children play on the cracked earth. The only tell-tale sign that the expanse, until a few months back, quenched the thirst of a city are puddles of water.The peak of summer may be over this year, but the city is facing another onslaught-water crisis, the worst in over a decade. The combined storage in the reservoirs that supply water to Chennai -Red Hills, Chembarambakkam, Poondi and Cholavaram -has touched a dead storage of 944 million cubic feet (mcft) against their capacity of over 11,000 mcft.
While the Cholavaram reservoir has been dry since May , the lake in Poondi, which stores river Krishna water from Andhra Pradesh, has only 50mcft against its capacity to hold 3,231mcft. Krishna water was suspended a month ago due to lack of rain.
The dire situation has pushed Chennai Metrowater to pump out dead storage from the reservoirs as the water level has gone below the sluice and can't flow without manual help. The civic body is also increasingly looking to bank on groundwater to sustain supply to the city .
While the city's demand is 1,100 million litres per day (MLD), Metrowater has for the past three years been supplying about 550 MLD, down by 35% of the 831 MLD it routinely supplied. The demand-supply gap is filled by private water tankers, borewells and canned water sold in shops.
Taking into the account the prevailing drinking water deficiency , municipal administration and water supply minister S P Velumani on Monday requested the public to use drinking water judiciously . He also held a discussion with officials on the water storage level in the city reservoirs and the reservoirs of Andhra Pradesh -Srisailam, Somasila and Kandaleru, which augment Chennai's supply through Telugu Ganga project.
While the Cholavaram reservoir has been dry since May , the lake in Poondi, which stores river Krishna water from Andhra Pradesh, has only 50mcft against its capacity to hold 3,231mcft. Krishna water was suspended a month ago due to lack of rain.
The dire situation has pushed Chennai Metrowater to pump out dead storage from the reservoirs as the water level has gone below the sluice and can't flow without manual help. The civic body is also increasingly looking to bank on groundwater to sustain supply to the city .
While the city's demand is 1,100 million litres per day (MLD), Metrowater has for the past three years been supplying about 550 MLD, down by 35% of the 831 MLD it routinely supplied. The demand-supply gap is filled by private water tankers, borewells and canned water sold in shops.
Taking into the account the prevailing drinking water deficiency , municipal administration and water supply minister S P Velumani on Monday requested the public to use drinking water judiciously . He also held a discussion with officials on the water storage level in the city reservoirs and the reservoirs of Andhra Pradesh -Srisailam, Somasila and Kandaleru, which augment Chennai's supply through Telugu Ganga project.
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