Incessant rains in Chennai for the past two days have replenished the depleting water level. The water level at Chembarambakkam lake has increased from 47 million cubic feet to 78 million cubic feet. The surplus water is planned to be released to the quarries of Sikarayapuram, which serves the water needs of the city.
Owing to the failure of rain, the lakes Chembarambakkam, Puzhal, Sholavaram, and Poondi had dried up. This led to water scarcity in Chennai. However, incessant rainfall at night for the past two days has replenished the water levels in the Chembarambakkam lake. On the first day, the city received heavy rainfall at night and later there was drizzling until morning.
The rainfall has been recorded to be 90 milimeters, which was enough to increase the water levels.
Before the rain, the water level was at 47 million cubic feet and after heavy rain on the first day, it has risen up to 78 million cubic feet. Now the lake is receiving 253 cubic feet of water per second. For agriculture and industries, the water is released at a measure of 10 cubic feet per second.
Since the water need for the people is served thorough the rainwater-filled quarries of Sikarayapuram, the water supply from the Chembarambakkam lake has been stopped in the recent days. It is expected that the water level would further increase in case of continuous rainfall.
Hence the surplus water is planned to be released to the quarries of Sikarayapuram.
The officials said that they would soon find the hidden canals and clean the bushes to transport the surplus water.
Even as the Chembarambakkam and Puzhal lakes encompass the rain waters, the Sholavaram Lake is still dried up as there is no inflow of water.
