Water pipes-relaying work in Saligramam by Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply & Sewerage Board (CMWSSB) has raised hopes that erratic water supply through the pipes will soon become a thing of the past for the residents of the locality. The work began a month ago.
The work is expected to benefit residents of the following neighbourhoods: Abbusali Street, Annamalai Colony, State Bank of India Colony, Velayudham Colony and Venketasha Nagar.
According to residents, water supply was poor in these neighbourhoods as there were many leaks in the pipes. The work is part of the third phase of CMWSSB’s drinking water pipe-laying work, which is aimed at supplying water from Kilpauk Water Works and the desalination plants in Koyambedu.
“We are quite relieved to see the execution of this work. However, the work should be completed without much delay. The roads in Saligramam witness heavy traffic due to their proximity to Arcot Road,” says B. Srinivas, a resident of Saligramam.
The residential areas in Saligramam rely more on piped water supply than tanker lorries and street-corner water tanks.
Interestingly, the neighbourhood is dotted with many independent houses that have traditional wells, which have mostly been over the past few years especially during summer.
As a result, many residents have also dug bore wells to supplement the water supplied by the Metrowater and traditional individual wells in their houses.
Currently, the Chennai Metrowater is also laying pipelines to tap water from three lakes — Retteri, Ayanambakkam and Perumbakkam — at a cost of Rs. 53 crore for which work started two months ago in May this year.
The water from these lakes will be cleaned before it is used for consumption. This water will be supplied to nearby residential areas thereby supplementing the existing water supply. As Saligramam, Chinmiyanagar, Virugambakkam and Vadapalani are closer to Retteri lake, water from the lake will also be supplied to these localities in the coming months.
The stretch is also of great importance to many schools in the neighbourhood including AVM School and Balalok school, for hundreds of school children use it to reach these educational institutions every day.
Besides, garbage is also dumped in street corner bins and it has not been removed for many days due to the difficulty in collecting the waste from the road-side bins, using civic body lorries.
The existing alternative route is narrow and it is surrounded by schools.
“The entire work on the stretch will be completed in a month,” says a Metrowater official.
