CHENNAI: The Andhra Pradesh government has been reducing the flow of water from Krishna river to Tamil Nadu , and now the water supply is expected to continue for a fortnight, said Public Works Department (PWD) officials.The Andhra Pradesh government, which had initially agreed a release of 800 cusec water as part of the Telugu Ganga project has brought it down to 400 cusec — that too happened only in the last few days, PWD officials added.A senior PWD official said the water from Krishna river was released by the Andhra Pradesh government after a team of officials from the PWD, led by secretary S K Prabakar, had visited their counterparts in Andhra Pradesh. The AP officials had then agreed to release two thousand million cubic feet (TMC) of water. However, the monsoon failure in AP has forced them to gradually reduce the flow of water.The PWD official said that in the first few days about 60 cusec of water was received in Poondi reservoir . The flow gradually rose and touched 190 cusec within the next five days. During the last four days, the flow ranged between 370 cusec and 420 cusec. “We expect that the water supply will continue for a fortnight. If they (AP) continue to release water to us beyond that, then it will be a bonus,” the officer said.The officer said that the water is being illegally tapped along the canal. People have even sunk motors in the canal to tap water for irrigation. Though the PWD officials have noticed this in several places along the canal no action could be taken, he said.“When the Krishna water pact was signed, the TN government should have laid pipes to bring the water from AP. Now, that will be difficult as it will strain the relationship between the two states. Acquiring land for laying the pipe is itself a major task these days,” the officer added.

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