The unpreceded rain in June has brought copious amounts of water in several reservoirs that provide drinking water to Chennai. On June 18 and 19, the Meenambakkam observatory recorded 16cm rainfall, while Nungambakkam recorded 8cm. The catchment areas of the reservoirs also received heavy showers, with Chembarambakkam recording 11cm rainfall, leading to an increase in the reservoir levels.
Heavy downpour across the city and peripheral areas that began on Sunday night continued into Monday, setting a new record of highest rainfall received by Chennai in the month of June. The previous record was registered nearly 27 years ago. In a rare event for June, schools in Chennai and neighbouring districts declared a holiday due to rain.
“Chennai received the third highest rainfall in June, recorded in the Nungambakkam observatory after 1991 (35cm) and 1996 (19cm). This is the second highest rainfall recorded in Meenambakkam after 1996 (28cm),” said Regional Meteorological Centre chief S Balachandran.
The Chembarambakkam reservoir received nearly 2,300 cusecs of water in the last two days following record rain on Sunday and Monday, besides the water transferred from Poondi reservoir. Four other reservoirs received minimal inflows. At present, the reservoir is at 69% of its full capacity.
“The amount of water received in these two reservoirs will help us provide drinking water for not less than 15 days. Since the temperature has gone down, the evaporation of water from reservoirs will come down and this will also help us provide more water to the city areas,” said a senior official of Chennai Metrowater.
“At present, the upper air circulation is around Andhra Pradesh coast. Due to this, Chennai city and nearby areas in Tiruvallur district are expected to get moderate rainfall and this will also help increase the water level in reservoirs providing drinking water to the city,” said the official.
Meanwhile, Chennai Corporation workers began clearing waterlogging in subways and other areas. “We received an alert of a possible cloudburst or heavy rain and were prepared with our teams. The process of clearing silt catchpits and chutes in stormwater drains had begun early last month in preparation for the monsoon and that also helped in water draining quickly across the city,” a corporation official said.
Moreover, as the rain followed peak summer, groundwater saturation level would be low, allowing easier infiltration, officials said. Temporary interventions like pumps are confined to only a few areas like Ayanavaram, Stephenson Road and Ganeshapuram subway, said the official.
Comments
0 comment