The Telugu Ganga project is a joint water supply scheme implemented in 1980s by the then

Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh (, abbr. AP) is a state in the south-eastern coastal region of India. It is the seventh-largest state by area covering an area of and tenth-most populous state with 49,386,799 inhabitants. It is bordered by Telangana to the ...

chief minister N.T.Ramarao and

Tamilnadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a state in southern India. It is the tenth largest Indian state by area and the sixth largest by population. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu is the home of the Tamil people, whose Tamil language— ...

Chief minister

M. G. Ramachandran Maruthur Gopalan Ramachandran (17 January 1917 24 December 1987), also popularly known as M.G.R., was an Indian politician, actor, philanthropist, and filmmaker who served as the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu from 1977 until his death in 1987 ...

to provide drinking water to

Chennai Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras (List of renamed Indian cities and states#Tamil Nadu, the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost states and territories of India, Indian state. The largest city ...

city in

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a state in southern India. It is the tenth largest Indian state by area and the sixth largest by population. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu is the home of the Tamil people, whose Tamil language— ...

. It is also known as the Krishna Water Supply Project, since the source of the water is the Krishna river in erstwhile

. Water is drawn from the Srisailam reservoir and diverted towards Chennai through a series of inter-linked canals, over a distance of about , before it reaches the destination at the Poondi reservoir near Chennai. The main checkpoints en route include the Somasila reservoir in

Penna River Penna (also known as Pinakini, Pennar, Penner, Penneru (Telugu), Pennai (Tamil)) is a river of southern India. This is a unique river in world where after originating from Nandi hills, it flows as two different streams, one in North and South ...

valley, the Kandaleru reservoir, the 'Zero Point' near Uthukkottai where the water enters Tamil Nadu territory and finally, the

Poondi reservoir Poondi Reservoir or Sathyamoorthy reservoir is the reservoir across Kotralai River in Tiruvallur district of Tamil Nadu State. It acts as the important water source for Chennai city which is 60 km away. History Poondi Reservoir (later ...

, also known as Satyamurthy Sagar. From Poondi, water is distributed through a system of link-canals to other storage reservoirs located at Red Hills,

Sholavaram Cholavaram, also spelled Sholavaram, is a suburb north of Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. It is popular as Sholavaram and is also known for the Cholavaram lake. Adjoining the lake, there was an defunct Air Force Airfield which was used as a mot ...

and Chembarambakkam. The project was approved in 1977 after an agreement was reached between Tamil Nadu and the riparian states of Krishna river: Andhra Pradesh,

Maharashtra Maharashtra (; , abbr. MH or Maha) is a states and union territories of India, state in the western India, western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. Maharashtra is the List of states and union te ...

and

Karnataka Karnataka (; ISO: , , also known as Karunāḍu) is a state in the southwestern region of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act. Originally known as Mysore State , it was renamed ''Karn ...

. According to the agreement, each of the three riparian states were to contribute of water annually, for a total supply of . This number was revised down to in 1983 after accounting for seepage and evaporation losses. The water initially supplied by the canal was disappointing, delivering less than . In 2002, the religious leader

Sathya Sai Baba Sathya Sai Baba (born Ratnakaram Sathyanarayana Raju; 23 November 192624 April 2011) was an Indian guru. At the age of fourteen he claimed that he was the reincarnation of Shirdi Sai Baba, and left his home to serve his devotees. Sai Baba' ...

announced a scheme of restoration and lining of the canal; a private undertaking. With an extensive rebuilding of the canal and several reservoirs, the project was completed in 2004, when Poondi reservoir received Krishna water for the first time. The supply of water to Chennai city in 2006 was . After the re-lining and reconstruction, the Kandaleru-Poondi part of the canal was renamed Sai Ganga.

Jerdon's Courser

The area has however continued to be threatened by illegal construction work and activity related to a project proposed to link the rivers of India.

Notes

References

# # # # Geography of Chennai Interbasin transfer Water supply infrastructure in India Canals in Tamil Nadu Year of establishment missing {{Chennai-geo-stub