The shutters of the Poondi reservoir were opened on Monday evening, much ahead of Northeast monsoon, which provides major share of rains. The water released from the reservoir is being be diverted to Cholavaram reservoir.
Following heavy rains in catchment areas of the Kosasthalaiyar in this southwest monsoon, the Water Resources Department (WRD) decided to release 1,000 cusecs of water from two flood gates of Poondi reservoir around 4 p.m. on Monday. The water level has touched 33.90 feet, just one feet lower than its maximum level as the reservoir received good inflow of about 1,520 cusecs around 6 a.m.
Water discharge from city reservoirs is more common during the northeast monsoon. Spread over 34.58 sq.km. in Tiruvallur district, the reservoir, which is one of the prime waterbodies used as Chennai’s drinking water sources, has a storage of 2.79 tmcft. as against its capacity of 3.23 tmcft.
