For residents of Vellore, summer brings acute scarcity of water. The district administration has embarked on measures to cater to the growing water requirements of residents.
In the recent weeks, there have been a number of incidents in which residents of several areas took to the streets to protest lack of water supply. Many of them have been depending on supply once in 15 days and are in the practice of storing containers of water at homes.
However, the district administration along with local bodies has been drawing up drought management plans for the summer. The commencement of trial run of the Combined Water Supply Scheme with river Cauvery has raised hopes among officials and residents on improved water supply especially when the summer peaks.
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The State government’s recent allocation of Rs. 20 crore has kick-started schemes to ease water scarcity in the district.
The Vellore Corporation, which received Rs. 5 crore out of the allotted Rs. 20 crore, has taken up works to sink new borewells, supply water to residents through lorries and renewing of existing motor pump sets.
“We have also taken up work for extension of distribution main lines, providing tanks that will be filled with water through lorries. We are looking at alternative sources to meet the summer drought,” said an official.
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Apart from this Rs. 5 crore, the local body is prepared to utilise money from its general fund if required.
“We are ready with the summer water management plans. Tenders for these works have been completed. In addition, we are also expecting water from the CWSS that will ease the present problem,” he added.
While the Corporation is supplying drinking water once in 15 days, water from CWSS is expected to reduce this gap to an extent.
As per norms, 135 litres of water per capita per day (LPCD) should be provided in Vellore Corporation while the present supply was 40 LPCD.
The CWSS will boost this supply level, he said.
“We are identifying water table in added areas of the Corporation for providing new bore wells. We are also keen on not sinking bore wells near existing ones,” he said.
Panchayats have been allocated Rs. 15 crore for water needs.
“We have identified very needy habitations in 14 blocks that are the worst hit in the district. This includes habitations in Kandhili, Natrampalli, Jolarpet, Tirupattur, K.V. Kuppam and Pernambut,” said an official.
With the requirement being 40 LPCD, officials are starting with the habitations that received the lowest supply.
“Habitations with less LPCD will be the priority. We have taken up works to rejuvenate existing borewells by deepening them, enhancing motor capacity and extending pipelines,” he added.
For sources that have failed, the department is taking number of measures for alternative sources by sinking new borewells and laying pipelines to the existing over head tanks.
“To ensure that there are no failures, we are involving geologists to identify spots. Three or four spots are being selected and the best source is identified by them,” the official added.
Municipalities are also struggling to meet out to the water needs.
A representative of the local body said as of now, they had been asked to spend from the general fund.
However, problems persisted for these local bodies as area-wise requirements had to be considered as water was available within 200 feet in some areas, whereas they had to dig for at least 1,000 feet in some areas.
The representative said that the district administration should provide them with funds for drought management.