Chennai’s fifth reservoir to be ready by mid-2015.

By this time next year, the city may have another reservoir to store and cater to its drinking water needs.

The water resources department (WRD) is looking to expedite a Rs. 330-crore project to merge the waterbodies at Thervoy Kandigai and Kannankottai villages to form a new reservoir in Tiruvallur district.

The reservoir will have a capacity to hold 500 million cubic feet of water. Over 90 per cent of the land required for the project has been acquired.

Officials of WRD said, of the about 1,500 acres required for the project, about 1,350 acres, including government poromboke land and patta land, have been acquired.

'We have identified nearly 650 land owners and are in the process of providing them interim compensation. We plan to acquire the remaining 70 acres of patta land in a month,' said an official.

THE HINDU