Water supplied only on alternate days
Water supplied only on alternate days
Chennai: All is not well with the Chennai city water storage level. The city may face water shortage this summer. Metro water has already been supplying water only on an alternate day basis for the past few months and the metro water engineers admit that the supply from the water treatment plants has been marginally going down for the past few days.
According to Chennai metro water sources, all the four city reservoirs including Poondi, Cholavaram, Chembarambakkam and Red Hills can hold a total storage capacity of 11,057 mcft, but the present storage stops 2,801 mcft, which is hardly around 25 per cent of the total storage capacity.
Last year during the same period, the total storage of water was 3,784 mcft. The situation with Poondi is bad, as the reservoir holds 225 mcft, less than 12 per cent of its total capacity (3,231 mcft). Meanwhile sources with the regional meteorological department confirmed that the rainfall in districts like Kancheepuram, Chennai and Tiruvallur have been alarmingly deficit this season.
Tiruvallur and Kancheepuram that supports the catchment areas of all the four city reservoirs have received deficit rainfall of 23 and 37 per cent during this period starting from October 1 to December 3, this year sources added.
“We have started receiving complaints of sewage entering drinking water pipelines due to low pressure in the water pipelines. When the supply is heavy, ground water or sewage leak will not enter the drinking water pipes, but when the supply drops this is a common problem with low lying areas,” said a metro water engineer based in north Chennai.
The situation will worsen in the coming years as the catchment areas of the all the city reservoirs have witnessed development and several acres of land have been converted into real estate plots, said S. Thirunavukarsu, general secretary, Neer Exnora.
The groundwater table in Chennai and neighbouring areas during early 2000 was around 10 metre mark, but at present is has further dipped to 18 metre mark and this prevents the reservoirs from having any surplus water and the runoff water is arrested due to encroachments and developmental activities, he explained.
However a senior metro water official allayed fears that Chennai will face water crisis during 2015 summer. “The storage level at Veeranam is healthy and our ground water sources have gained in the neighbouring districts during the recent rains. Besides the metro water is also looking at the water due from Andhra, under the Krishna river project to boost Poondi. We are also hoping for more rains, as the monsoon season is not yet over,” said an official.
“Tambaram and Polavaram are already facing water crisis and we are concerned about the ensuing summer,” rued D. Vijayakumar, a resident.
( Source : dc correspondent )
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