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The possibility of drinking water shortage in Chennai?
Posted on: 30/Nov/2018 11:37:17 AM
A precarious situation has developed due to the failure of the northeast monsoon rainy season with strong possibilities of the shortage of drinking water in Chennai Metro City.
The monthly demanded of the expanded Chennai Metro City domain is 1 tmc (trillion cubic metres). The drinking water for the Chennai Metro city is taken care of by the 4 drinking water reservoirs – the lakes of Puzhal, Chozhavaram, Chembarambakkam, and Poondi in the district of Thiruvallur.
Water is brought through the large-size pipe from the Veeranam Lake located in Cuddalore. Further, the demand for Chennai’s drinking water is partly taken care of by the desalination plants as well. Apart from the above, the Andhra government has to give 12 tmc of drinking water every year through the Krishna river, This also caters to Chennai’s demand for drinking water.
Presently, the existing capacity of the 4 reservoirs in Thiruvallur is only 1.75 tmc. Out of this, a maximum of 1.13 tmc is available in Puzhal lake. There is a very low water quantity in the other 3 lakes.
Veeranam lake has a present capacity of 1.09 tmc. With the above quantity of the available drinking water, the needs of the Chennai Metro City can be taken care of for another two-and-a-half month. Meanwhile, Andhra government released only 1.60 tmc from the Kandaleru dam and stopped after that.
In this scenario, the northeast monsoon rainy season has failed to bring the expected rainfall. If this situation prevails, there are the dangerous prospects of severe drinking water shortage in the next year in the Chennai Metro City.
So, MWSSB (Mero Water Supply and Sewerage Board has a huge responsibility to review and organise alternative sources/arrangements for drinking water for Chennai Metro City.
