Thanks to comfortable storage in the Kandeleru reservoir, irrigation officials in Andhra Pradesh began release of the Krishna water to Chennai city on Friday.
With Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy giving the nod, 1,500 cusecs of water was let into the Satya Sai Ganga canal. The released water will reach Poondi reservoir in Tamil Nadu in the next six days.
Going forward the water release would be stepped up depending on the requirement and maintained to the required level in the next 45 to 60 days, Kandaleru Chief Engineer K. Harinarayana Reddy told The Hindu soon after letting out water after performing pooja to Telugu Ganga.
Thanks to continued floods in the catchment areas, the storage in the reservoir rose to 38.59 tmcft on Friday. The reservoir saw an addition of about 1 tmcft of water each day.
Water was also released to fill drinking water reservoirs in SPSR Nellore and Chittoor districts including Tirupati, Srikalahasti, Venkatagiri and Rapur from Kandeleru, which had an inflow of 10,273 cusecs on Friday.
With water replenishment for overflowing Somasila, there would be no problem in ensuring drinking water to Chennai and other cities and towns in the State, besides ensuring irrigation to three lakh acres, he said.
A quantity of 2.40 tmcft of water was earmarked to fill drinking water reservoirs in SPSR Nellore district, including Nellore, Kavali, Gudur and in neighbouring Chittoor district.
