Chennai: There’s a glimmer of hope that Chennai’s water crisis will end soon, as the city’s reservoirs are set to get inflows in a few days.
The Veeranam lake, which receives water from Cauvery river through Mettur dam, has started filling up following the release of water from the dam in Salem district on August 13.
At present, water level in Veeranam lake has incre-ased to 41.43 feet. The lake situated in Cuddalore district supplies drinking water to Chennai which also draws water from other four reservoirs.
The water released from Mettur dam, reaches Veeraman through Kala-nai. The lake directly irrigates lands in Chidam-baram and Kattumannarkoil to the extent of 49,440 acres and 20,500 acres respectively. Mettur has been receiving copious inflows following the release of water from Kabini and Krishna-rajasagar reservoirs in neighbouring Karnataka.
On Sunday, water levels at the four major reservoirs supplying water to Chennai stood at 0.14 percent of the total water-holding capacity. Poondi is the only reservoir that has water in it - that too meagre - while the other three reservoirs - Cholavaram, Red Hills and Chemba-rambakkam are dry. Officials say it will take a fortnight for water to be released to Tamil Nadu from Somasila and Kandaleru.
