With not a drop of water in taps for two consecutive days, even a bath was out of question for Raji Manoj of Kochuveli a couple of days ago. “It was quite an ordeal, especially in this heat,” says Raji who runs a stitching centre. “After waiting for two days, we went to my mother’s house to use the water from the borewell there. Food too was cooked using that. We started getting piped water again on Thursday night.”
Not just in a ward or two, residents across the city are struggling on accord of the water supply curbs imposed by the Kerala Water Authority for the past four days.
K. Prasannakumari, who lives along with her sister’s family in a rented house at Mudavanmugal, says they have not received any water for four days. “We take water from the public tap nearby. At any time, there are 15-20 people waiting there with buckets. There is no other water source.”
“There has been no supply during the day for the past two days,” says Vidya Sekhar P.S., a home-maker of Enikkara. Water supply has been erratic for two weeks, she says. “We have a well, so we are making do.”
Binsu B.S. of Vazhayila affirms that things have been pretty bad, with supply resuming late in the evening the past two days. “Those who have old pipe connections are the worst hit.” A schoolteacher, she says there was no water in a Chala school where she attended a teacher training programme on Thursday.
A resident of PTP Nagar, Asha Kurien says despite the area being at an altitude they rarely experienced problems, but of late there was either no water in taps or supply was erratic. “There was no water all of Thursday. The authorities should impose some restrictions on water usage throughout the year instead of last-minute measures.”
Shift to paper cups
Bijoy P.G., an autorickshaw driver, says he recently found that a hotel at Peroorkada was serving tea in paper cups. “The hotel staff said they did not have enough water to wash the utensils.”
Arumugham, an employee at a hotel at Palayam, says without round-the-clock water supply, they have been forced to rely on the Corporation’s water tankers. “Whatever water we get at night is stored in a tank. For the rest, we depend on the tankers that come every day.”
