The spectre of water scarcity is looming large over Chennai this summer. While the State government stresses on rainwater harvesting for water conservation, and rightly so, there is much more to be done to create awareness on the impact of wastage of drinking water.
In fact, the primary water agency — the Chennai Metro Water Supply and Sewerage Board (CMWSSB) — itself can conserve more water by merely ensuring that its water tankers are leak-proof.
T. Charles John, a resident of Valasaravakkam, in his post in Friends of Chennai (FOC), said many a time, simple technologies like water sensors or stop valves are available but are overlooked by the official machinery when it comes to overflowing sumps caused by heavy pumping of piped water. In fact, wastage of water by tanker lorries is a well-known, widely-seen fact in Chennai.
Even as several areas are facing shortage of piped water and Metrowater is supplying water through tankers, precious water is being wasted. In some areas like Velachery, where houses are located at high pressure points in the piped drinking water network, filling up sumps without keeping an eye on the level results in the overflowing of water from the sumps on to the road.
S. Kumararaja, a resident of Annai India Nagar, Velachery, complained about the pumping of piped water during night time leading to wastage of water. He wondered why a proper supply mechanism could not be ensured to prevent such wastage of the precious resource.
V. Ashok, a resident of Thorapakkam, noted that it is ironic that slogans advising people not to waste water were painted on the Metrowater lorries even as they often let out copious amounts of water on to the roads.
The civic body would be well advised to plug the leaks, ensuring that every drop of water it carries or supplies is not wasted, residents said, acknowledging their own role in water conservation. It takes an entire city after all to ensure that we tide over the water crisis this summer.
Metrowater officials said water tankers will be checked for leakages in the filling points and action will be taken if wastage of water is detected. Similarly, flow meters have been installed at distribution points in the pipeline to check the volume of water being supplied. However, in some areas close to distribution points, high water pressure cannot be avoided as water has to reach the tail-end. In such cases, residents may coordinate with the local Metrowater office to prevent wastage of water.
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Metrowater should make it mandatory for houses having sumps to install a simple level sensor so that water would not overflow
T. Charles John,.
