The Coimbatore Corporation is doing its best to tide over the shortage of drinking water in certain pockets of the city that are covered under the Pilloor scheme, Corporation Commissioner Anshul Mishra said in the Council on Wednesday.
At the same time, the focus of the Mayor and Commissioner was on equitable distribution of drinking water and not on offsetting shortage in one area by trigger it in another, the Commissioner said.
Mr. Mishra's detailing of the water supply contingency measures was in response to a protest by members of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam at the start of an Urgent Meeting, to demand a detailed explanation from Mayor R. Venkatachalam on the measures decided at an all-party meeting held on Tuesday.
While the situation in the Siruvani Dam was comfortable because of more water being available in it than last year, disruptions in the Pilloor supply caused concern in certain other areas of the city.
“But, over the last four to five days, we have been getting 64 million litres to 65 million litres of Pilloor water a day (the full quota under the Pilloor scheme). Supply gets hit in some areas when damages to the main supply line occur,” he said.
“Power cut and problems in the main line are not in our (Corporation's) hands. But, we are doing our best to ensure a problem-free internal distribution in the city,” the Commissioner said.
One of the contingency measures was the diversion of some quantum of Siruvani water to the deficit areas under the Pilloor scheme.
“The duration of supply of Siruvani water is being reduced in order to enable diversion of the water to the Pilloor-served areas. We have already announced through the media this decision that was taken at the all-party meeting,” he said.
Bore wells
Existing bore wells would be flushed, wherever necessary, and kept in good condition to overcome the shortage of water during summer.
New bore wells would be sunk if required, he said.
“But, the problems in the Pilloor-served areas will be overcome by the end of this year because the Pilloor Phase II scheme will be implemented by then,” Mr. Mishra assured the members.
The Commissioner said the details were being presented in the Council because water supply was a serious issue, though it was not listed in the agenda for the Urgent Meeting that was convened to discuss lease items and infrastructure-related subjects.
