Krishna water: Panneerselvam writes to Chandrababu Naidu

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister O Panneerselvam today requested Andhra Pradesh CM Chandrababu Naidu release Krishna water from the Kandaleru dam to meet the drinking water needs of Chennai.

In the letter, he said the lack of rainfall in Chennai is having a severe impact on the groundwater levels in the city.

"I write seeking your urgent personal intervention for the release of Krishna Water to meet the drinking water supply to Chennai City which is facing an acute shortage in the reservoirs," he said.

He said as per the inter-state Agreement dated 18.4.1983, signed between the governments of Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, an annual quantum of 12 TMC ft. (excluding evaporation loss) shall be realised at the Tamil Nadu border, by release of water from Kandaleru reservoir to meet the drinking water needs of Chennai City, in two spells.

"Normally, 8 TMC ft. of water is to be supplied between July to October and another 4 TMC ft. from January to April. However, a quantum of only 0.99 TMC ft. has been realised at the Tamil Nadu border in the period from October to December, 2016," he stated.

OPS added: "As you are aware, Tamil Nadu and Chennai city are primarily dependent on the North-East monsoon for bulk of the rainfall. This year, the North-East monsoon has been highly deficient in Tamil Nadu. Rainfall in Chennai is deficient by nearly 57%. The water level in Chennai’s drinking water reservoirs is very low and the meagre storage currently available needs to be augmented to meet the drinking water supply requirements of the city over the next few months. Therefore, we depend on the release of Krishna water from the Kandaleru Reservoir to partly tide over the drinking water supply to Chennai City till July, 2017."