Residents of Soundarajan Street in T. Nagar who had recently complained of sewage from underground pipes mixing with water in their sumps, on Friday complained that the sewage water seeped into their wells.
They alleged that water from a construction site of a stormwater drain on Venkatnarayana Road has been seeping into their water pipelines for a month now. This, they say, happened after a sewage line broke due to road digging work being undertaken by the Chennai Corporation, going on for three months now.
As part of the project, Corporation workers have dug a trench that occupies a major part of the narrow stretch, which houses about 320 flats and many independent houses.
Residents complained that the contamination had occurred almost four times in the past three weeks.
The quality of water had been deteriorating since a month, said N. Bhavani, a resident. The residents said that though the Corporation authorities and the Chennai Metrowater officials were intimated about the urgency of the situation, they had not taken steps to provide a remedy.
“The Metrowater officials caution us whenever the water quality is found unfit for use, but no alternative has been suggested,” said K. Natarajan, a resident, adding that he had approached several senior officials in the Corporation and the Metrowater but was yet to receive any response.
The residents added that they have been forced to buy water for over a month now. “The work on the stormwater drain has reduced the space on the road making it impossible for lorries to come to this stretch,” said Hema Narayanan, a resident.
Metrowater officials said that the contamination had to be solved by the Chennai Corporation and for that the construction work had to get over soon. “We are sending our officials to test the quality of water whenever a complaint is received,” he said. Some of the damaged pipelines were also replaced recently, he added.
Corporation officials, however, said that the recent rain had delayed the construction work and the process of replacing the damaged pipes was under way. “We plan to replace the damaged pipes and finish the construction by the end of the month,” an official said.
