By Express News Service CHENNAI: Going by the current trend, next summer Chennai will not struggle for water. After a nine-month-long gap, the Veeranam Lake in Cuddalore, a steady source of drinking water to the city, has reached its full capacity. That apart, the four reservoirs in Chennai are half full, brightening the prospects for the upcoming summer. The last time when Veeranam hit its full capacity of 1,465 mcft was nine months ago. Officials concerned said water meant for irrigation has already been distributed and whatever is left now will be primarily to meet Chennai’s drinking water needs. “The flow from Mettur to Veeranam is usually stopped by January 28 every year,” an official said. “This year due to good rains, full capacity of 1465 Mcft has been reached already. For the next six months, there will be no problem in supplying 180 MLD to Chennai,” said a senior official. Recent rains have helped in raising combined storage levels at four reservoirs in the city to 6,073 Mcft. Thanks to steady Krishna water supply of around 600 cusecs, Poondi reservoir is close to reaching half of its full capacity and currently holds 1478 Mcft of water. Red Hills reservoir has also benefited from Krishna water and rain, and currently holds 2928 Mcft of water, very close to nearing its full capacity of 3300 Mcft. Chembarambakkam reservoir has almost reached its 50 per cent capacity but it continues to be choked by invasive weeds and water hyacinth. Express reported last November that the reservoir’s surface was completely covered by a thick growth of water hyacinth. Though PWD officials said they will soon look into illegal sewage discharge which was causing this, no action has been taken so far. Apart from surface water, recent rains have helped in increasing the groundwater levels too across the city. Six months ago, residents couldn’t find water even at 1000 ft in the suburbs and 500 ft inside the city. Now a stark difference can be seen as borewells are pumping water from 50 ft itself.

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