April is a tough month indeed. Come summer and the local bodies and Government departments need to make efforts to ensure adequate drinking water and power supply.
This year, with deficient rains, the region could face shortage in drinking water supply. One effort is to tap the ground water by sinking borewells and this will require power supply to pump water.
For the Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation (Tangedco), summer is a tough time as the demand for electricity goes up. Apart from the regular demand, use of air conditioners increase, students need power supply to study for their examination, and the local bodies need power to pump water.
According to Coimbatore Corporation sources, the local body was not going in for additional poles now. While sinking new borewells, the Corporation was ensuring that the spot chosen as near an existing power source.
An official of the Tangedco said Tirupur district had sought 1,000 new poles for the additional borewells and about 300 applications were expected for this purpose.
Nearly 1,200 poles had been allocated to meet these demands in the region during the next two months. Priority was in supply of new connections and infrastructure for over head tank and ground level reservoir requirements.
The Tangedco could face an additional demand of 25 MW from a district because of the new borewells.
However, water pumping might be for just three to six hours a day depending on the requirement.
In order to meet the peak hour demand (6 p.m. to 10 p.m.), the street lights can be switched on only after it gets dark, use of high mast lights can be avoided and commercial establishments can reduce their electricity consumption in the evening hours.
Load shedding duration was less in the region during the last one month as the wind energy generation was continuing this year, though the season usually ends in September-October, the official added.
(With inputs from Karthik Madhavan)
