Water crisis looms in Tamil Nadu, with just 7-8% storage in reservoirs

Several months to go before monsoon; state spared heat wave; supply to Chennai down 33%

With several months to go before the next monsoon season, live storage of water in the major reservoirs in Tamil Nadu has declined to around 7-8 per cent of the overall capacity. The state, however, is not hit by a heat wave unlike some northern states. The capital city is also facing a huge crisis.

Latest data from Central Water Commission (CWC) shows the current live storage in six important reservoirs in Tamil Nadu having dropped to 0.302 billion cubic meter (BCM) as against full reservoir level (FRL) of 4.229 BCM.

The live capacity at FRL in Lower Bhawani is 0.792 BCM, while the current live storage is 0.075 BCM. The reservoir in Mettur, which caters to the Cauvery Delta -- known for its paddy production -- has a live storage of 0.188 BCM, around seven per cent of the live capacity of 2.647 BCM. Vaigai reservoir, which has a capacity of 0.172 BCM, has a live storage of 0.006 BCM, it says.

Chennai used to receive 830 million litres of water per day and the failure of monsoon and drop in Krishna water inflow has created an alarming situation.

Now, the city gets an average of 550 million litres a day from lakes, desalination plants, Veeranam scheme, newly included groundwater resources, Poondi and Thamaraipakkam wells, said Government officials.

Relief works at a cost of Rs 100 crore are being implemented to overcome the crisis which would be of immense help, especially in May when the lakes around Chennai go dry.

While the government has announced most of the state as drought hit and has been engaged in relief measures, the state is staring at the worst drought it has faced in more than a century during this summer as the storage levels are expected to dwindle further. The state announced Rs 976 crore to overcome water crisis .

The Public Works Department says the storage in 15 major reservoirs in the State has dropped down to eight per cent of their total capacity and the storage at Mettur, where the total capacity is 93.47 thousand million cubit feet (Tmcf), the current storage is around 6.5 Tmcf as compared to 22.63 Tmcf during the same period of last year.

The major reservoirs in the State has seen a departure of 80 per cent lower from the normal storage so far, said CWC data. This is also the highest departure from normal compared to the other southern states of Andhra Pradesh (-61 per cent), Karnataka (-40 per cent) and Kerala (-27 per cent), while Telangana has seen 52 per cent higher storage than normal. Tamil Nadu has seen a 62 per cent decline in rainfall during the north-east monsoon during October to December 2016.

The major water reservoirs in Chennai, which has a population of over seven million as per the census of 2011, had 1,269 mcft on April 1, only 11.5 per cent of the total capacity of 11,057 mcft. This is also a fifth of the reserves the same day a year ago, of 6,887 mcft.

The state recorded an overall deficit of 40 per cent rainfall against the normal rainfall of 921 mm.

With Tamil Nadu reeling under severe drought, the government is facing a formidable challenge in meeting drinking water needs, said state Finance Minister D Jayakumar recently.

Input subsidy relief totaling Rs 2,247 crore has been sanctioned, while the state has sought Central sanction of Rs 39,565 crore from the National Disaster Response Fund.

The state also taking up works like erection of new deep borewells, rejuvenation of existing borewells and open wells, replacement of pump-sets and supply of water through lorries in needy areas at a cost of Rs 460 crore in rural areas and Rs 150 crore in urban areas.

However, the heat waves which usually hits several states in the country during the summer has not affected the state so far. Sources said that the maximum temperature is mostly below 40 degree Celsius due to wind from Eastern direction.