With borewells drying up since the start of summer, government hospitals in the city have increased their dependency on tanker supply by nearly 40% to meet their daily requirements.
Senior officials of the Health Department said that water requirements of these hospitals are being met 100%. Many of the government hospitals are tiding over the crisis by increasing tanker supply besides depending on regular piped supply from Metrowater.
“There is a 40% increase in tanker supply for the city hospitals. The number of lorries depends on the requirements of each institution. For instance, the Institute of Child Health gets 10 to 12 lorries, while Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital gets 25 to 30 lorries per day. Almost 50% of the water on campus is consumed by patients and their attendants,” said A. Edwin Joe, Director of Medical Education.
The increased dependence on tanker supply is partly due to dwindling groundwater levels, he said, adding: “There are no plans to dig deeper for groundwater.”
Out of the 20 borewells at the Government Kilpauk Medical College (KMC) Hospital, water yield has dwindled in at least eight to nine now. “Till last month, only five were down. Deepening the borewells may not be fruitful. Earlier, we used to get five to 10 lorries a day. Now, we are getting 15 to 20 lorries. This is adequate to meet our essential needs,” said P. Vasanthamani, dean of KMC. The institution has put in place water conservation measures. “For instance, we have asked students in the hostels to store water for use instead of using showers,” she said.
At the Government Stanley Medical College Hospital, three of the five wells have dried up. The hospital is getting around 40 lorries every day, against the earlier 25 to 30. “Of the 40 tanker loads, 20 are of 9,000 litres capacity and remaining 20 tankers are of 15,000 litres capacity each. We also get 50,000 litres to one lakh litres of piped water supply from Metrowater everyday,” said a hospital authority.
However, overcrowding is a major challenge for government hospitals. “Many of the in-patients have at least five to six attendants each. Many of them are using the water available in the hospital citing lack of water at home,” he said.
Officials note that patients and their attendants cannot be prevented from using water. “We are conserving at our end. We have asked our staff to bring water from home for drinking, and to store water in buckets instead of using taps,” Dr. Joe said.
