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

Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh (ISO 15919, ISO: , , AP) is a States and union territories of India, state on the East Coast of India, east coast of southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, seventh-largest state and th ...

chief minister

Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao (28 May 1923 – 18 January 1996), often referred to by his initials NTR, was an Indian actor, film director, film producer, screenwriter, film editor, philanthropist, and politician who served as the Chief Minister o ...

and

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is the southernmost States and union territories of India, state of India. The List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of Indi ...

chief minister Maruthur Gopalan Ramachandran to provide drinking water to

Chennai City Chennai, also known as Madras ( its official name until 1996), is the capital and largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost state of India. It is located on the Coromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal. According to the 2011 Indian censu ...

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

Krishna River The Krishna River in the Deccan Plateau, Deccan plateau is the third-longest in India, after the Ganga, Ganga and Godavari. It is also the fourth-largest in terms of water inflows and river basin area in India, after the Ganga, Indus and Godav ...

in erstwhile

. Water is drawn from the

Srisailam reservoir The Srisailam Dam is constructed across the Krishna River in Nandyal district, Andhra Pradesh and Nagarkurnool district, Telangana near Srisailam temple town and is the 2nd largest capacity working hydroelectric station in India. The dam ...

and diverted towards Chennai through a series of interlinked 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, Penneru, Penner, Pennar, Pennai) is a river of southern India. After originating from Nandi hills, it flows as two different streams, one in North and South directions. The Penna rises in the Nandi Hills, India, ...

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

Poondi reservoir ''Sathyamoorthy Saagar'', also known as Poondy Reservoir, is the reservoir constructed across Kosasthalaiyar River, ''Kotralai'' (alias) ''Kosasthalai'' River in Tiruvallur district of Tamil Nadu state in India. It acts as the important drinking ...

, 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 a defunct Air Force Airfield which was used as a motor ...

and

Chembarambakkam Chembarambakkam Lake is a lake located in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India, about 25 km from Chennai. It is the biggest of the two important rain-fed reservoirs, the other one being the Puzhal Lake, that supply drinking water to Chennai city . ...

. 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 () is a state in the western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. It is bordered by the Arabian Sea to the west, the Indian states of Karnataka and Goa to the south, Telangana to th ...

and

Karnataka Karnataka ( ) is a States and union territories of India, state in the southwestern region of India. It was Unification of Karnataka, formed as Mysore State on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, 1956, States Re ...

. 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 godman, guru and philanthropist. At the age of 14, he claimed to be the reincarnation of Shirdi Sai Baba and left his home saying "my devote ...

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 the 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