Chennai Water Crisis: Officials to Seek Increased Krishna Water Release from Andhra Pradesh

With storage levels in Chennai's major drinking water reservoirs dropping steadily, a team of Water Resources Department and Chennai Metrowater officials is scheduled to visit Andhra Pradesh on Friday to request an additional release of Krishna water.

The five key reservoirs that supply most of Chennai's drinking water now have a combined storage of 5,630 million cubic feet (mcft), which is about 48% of their total capacity. This is nearly 1,000 mcft lower than the storage recorded on the same day last year.

Krishna water from the Kandaleru reservoir in Andhra Pradesh has been flowing since May 27 to improve water levels and meet Chennai's drinking water needs. Since then, the Poondi reservoir has received nearly 1,000 mcft of Krishna water.

However, the inflow of Krishna water at the Tamil Nadu border has dropped sharply to 188 cubic feet per second (cusecs) as of Thursday. With storage declining steadily and a deficit in rainfall in Tiruvallur and Chennai so far this season, it is crucial that Krishna water sustains storage until the onset of the Northeast monsoon. The current storage in the city reservoirs is expected to last only until the end of the year.

Sources said the team would meet officials of the Telugu Ganga Project at Kandaleru to request an increase in discharge from the Kandaleru reservoir, which currently holds 22,000 mcft against its capacity of 68,000 mcft. They have the option to transfer water from upstream reservoirs like Srisailam and Somasila to Kandaleru to raise storage levels.

The team will request a discharge of 500 cusecs of water until October to maintain storage and ensure uninterrupted daily drawing from the reservoirs. If 500 cusecs of Krishna water is received daily, it would help increase storage by about 1,200 mcft per month, officials said. Andhra Pradesh authorities have released water into the Kandaleru-Poondi canal for drinking water needs along the route, including Tirupati, Kalahasti, and Rapur in Andhra Pradesh, and finally to Chennai.

Chennai has received nearly 5,600 mcft of Krishna water since July 2025. According to the inter-state agreement, Andhra Pradesh is required to provide Chennai 12,000 mcft of Krishna water in two spells annually.