Surplus water being released from Chembarambakkam reservoir at the rate of 100 cusecs per second on Tuesday due to the heavy rain.
| Photo Credit: VELANKANNI RAJ B
In a bid to maintain flood buffer storage and manage inflow, the Water Resources Department opened shutters of the Chembarambakkam reservoir on Tuesday evening. Water release from two other major reservoirs is also being maintained to prevent flash floods in the downstream areas.
A minimal 100 cubic feet per second (cusecs) of water was released from the Chembarambakkam reservoir, one of the city’s key drinking water sources in anticipation of more inflow during vigorous Northeast monsoon spells.
The reservoir now has a storage of 2,710 million cubic feet (mcft), which is nearly 75% of its total capacity, and its water level stands at 20.43 ft against the full level of 24 ft. “This year, the reservoir has healthy storage compared to the same day last year, when it had only 35% of its storage. We decided to let out a marginal quantity of water into the Adyar river to maintain flood buffering capacity and enable the reservoir to absorb additional inflow during heavy rain episodes,” said an official.
Flood water from catchment areas and the diversion of Krishna water boosted the storage. “We have adopted efficient reservoir routing measures to balance inflow and control discharge. This will help optimise storage after monsoon while ensuring flood control during extreme weather events,” the official added. The water discharge may be increased depending on the flow into the reservoir. The department has also issued flood warnings in low level areas, including Kundrathur, Thirumudivakkam, and Tiruneermalai.
While the water discharge from Red Hills reservoir has been increased from 300 cusecs to 500 cusecs on Tuesday morning, the same amount is being released from Poondi reservoir into Kosasthalaiyar river. “We have already written to Andhra Pradesh authorities to stop Krishna water release to Chennai. We want to maintain the reservoirs’ water level close to the threshold limit to reduce flood risk,” said an official.
On Tuesday, the department also opened flood regulators of water bodies in Keelkattalai and Narayanapuram to minimise inundation in neighbouring areas. Intense rainfall in Kancheepuram and Tiruvallur districts has also led to surplus flow from some check dams across the Palar river and Cooum rivers.
Published – October 22, 2025 05:30 am IST
