The Krishna water supply scheme, which has been catering to Chennai’s drinking water requirements for over 25 years, may be regarded as unique in the country.
A few days before the launch of the scheme in September 1996, Duraimurugan, now Water Resources Minister and then handling a bigger portfolio of the Public Works, emphasised that “for the first time in the country”, a scheme, envisaging inter-State and inter-basin water transfer exclusively for the drinking water requirements of a city, had been executed. Even now, the record created by the scheme remains unparalleled, say water experts.
Numerous drinking water supply projects have been taken up, including the New Veeranam Project in Tamil Nadu, but most of them serve more than one purpose. New Veeranam involves an inter-basin transfer — from the Cauvery to the Kosasthalaiyar — but it is within the State or an intra-State scheme.
