June 2018 June 2019 Lake Puzhal supplies water to about 4.6 million people in Chennai, India. Source: Copernicus Sentinel-2 Satellite via Maxar Technologies

The water is almost gone.

Satellite photographs reveal the stark shrinking of one of the main rain-fed reservoirs that serves Chennai, one of the biggest cities in India.

In one image, taken by satellite on June 15 last year, the city’s largest reservoir, Lake Puzhal, resembles a dark blue ink-stain amid a densely crowded cityscape.

In another, taken on Sunday, exactly a year later, the lake is a small grey fraction of its former self.

One of the city’s other important reservoirs, the smaller Chembarambakkam Lake, is also running dry.