State in search of sites for two reservoirs

CHENNAI: The State Government is looking for sites to construct two small reservoirs on the outskirts for storing Krishna water, the Public Works Minister Durai Murugan said on Monday.
The Minister told The Hindu that originally the reservoirs were to come up at Ramancheri and Thirukandalam across the Kosasthalaiyar.
But the proposals did not materialise because of opposition of land owners to any move to undertake the preliminary work.
“However, we need some more reservoirs. I have told my officers to come up with specific proposals by March.”
At present, Satyamurti Sagar at Poondi, the Cholavaram and Red Hills tanks store water for the city supply. The Chembarampakkam tank is used as a storage point even as it serves as an irrigation tank. The combined storage of the four reservoirs is 11 thousand million cubic feet (tmcft).
Tamil Nadu is to get 12 tmcft annually under the Krishna water supply project. The extent of land required is 1,739 hectares in respect of the Ramancheri reservoir and 1,371 hectares in the case of Thirukandalam.
According to the cost worked out in the early 1990s, the two projects require Rs. 700 crore. The previous Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam regime (1996-2001) sought to pursue the projects but it gave up the idea in view of the opposition of the land owners. When the AIADMK came to power in 2001, it announced that the Thirukandalam reservoir proposal would be taken up, but nothing materialised.