Residents in the central parts of the city grappled with acute drinking water shortage for the past two days as most of the tanker water supply was diverted to douse the fire that ravaged Chennai Silks showroom in T.Nagar.
According to sources in Chennai Metrowater, nearly 100 tanker trips were diverted to the site on Wednesday and Thursday. This led to disruption of water supply particularly through tankers in areas covered under Zones 9 and 10, including T.Nagar, Pondy Bazaar, West Mambalam and Kodambakkam. Several households in T.Nagar did not have piped water supply on Wednesday.
1 mn litres diverted
About one million litres is estimated to have been diverted for the fire fighting operation in the building, sources said.
On an average, nearly 900 tanker trips are operated in Zone 9 alone. Residents who had booked tanker water on payment had to endure a longer wait.
“It was difficult to even source water from private suppliers due to heavy demand,” said T.Bhavani, a resident of Motilal Street.
Meanwhile, Metrowater officials said it would take at least two days for water supply situation to normalise.
