CHENNAI: Five days after the northeast monsoon commenced in the state, the storage of surface water in Chennai region has not risen, giving a jolt to water managers. Even as there were a couple of spells of rain on November 1, water level in lakes such as Chembarambakkam and Red Hills, the main drinking water resource for Chennai city, did not rise. The Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (CMWSSB) continues to keep its fingers crossed to get rainwater from the northeast monsoon playing hide and seek.
“The current surface water in the lakes located in the Chennai region could be enough to meet the need of distribution of water for the next one month. Further, we are expecting northeast monsoon’s rains,” said an official of the CMWSSB. Going by the present scenario, the total storage in the four lakes - Poondi, Chembarambakkam, Cholavaram and Red Hills stands at 1,758 million cubic feet (mcft) against its full storage of 11,257 mcft. The level at Poondi reservoir which received Krishna water from the Kandaleru reservoir at Andhra Pradesh has gradually declined.
A senior official of the metro water board said, “We are at present distributing water without disruption. So there is no need for panic as we are receiving water from lakes and desalination plants.”
Meanwhile, the Regional Meteorological Center (RMC) has forecast a new low pressure that could possibly develop on Tuesday. According to weathermen at RMC, “The sky is likely to be generally cloudy in Chennai with light rain likely to occur in some areas, while maximum and minimum temperatures are likely to be around 32 and 25 degree Celsius respectively.”
K. Srikanth, a weather blogger of Chennaiyil Oru Mazhaikkalam said, “After the initial highs during the first fortnight of October, things went quiet completely, leading to a delayed monsoon onset by nearly 10 days. Further, even the monsoon onset was a mixed bag with heavy rains in southern parts of the state and the delta districts while the northern parts got moderate rains.”
