After nationwide lockdown was announced, the demand for refilling drinking water cans at the Community Drinking Water Centres in the city has doubled as people wait in long queues to purchase water at the centres.
As many as 20 centres functions in the city that were operated by a private company for which the corporation has provided land. Refilling a 20 litre can costs ₹ 7 as customers are given prepaid recharge cards and they can get the water round-the-clock. Usually, about 200 water can is sold at each centre that rose to over 700 cans when the packaged drinking water units were sealed by officials for violations in the first week of March. Though the units started functioning based on the Madras High Court order, water can supply was erratic as more people started depending on the centres that were located at populated areas in the city.
In the past 12 days, after people were asked to stay indoors, the demand for water cans at these centres has gone up two-fold times. A resident T. Sivalingam at the centre in Kollampalayam said that since all the family members stay at home, consumption of water is more than usual. “Earlier, we refilled three cans in a week, but now we have to refill almost all the days”, he said and added that they have to wait in queues to refill the cans now.
Corporation Commissioner M. Elangovan told The Hindu that on an average, over 1,100 cans are refilled at each centre which is also expected to go up in the coming days. He said that the civic body has taken adequate steps to ensure regular water supply to all the residents during the lockdown.
