Water in drought-hit city gets scarcer, pricier

With borewells going dry and piped water supply dwindling, demand for Metrowater tankers has gone up; households forced to spend around 30% more

Scraping the bottom: Withdrawal of water from quarries began on Tuesday. From there, it is being sent to the Chembarambakkam treatment plant.

Water costs have been, of late, eating into household budget of many residents who are left with little choice than to purchase tanker water for their needs as city reels under one of its most severe droughts.

As Chennai Metrowater has cut its supply from 500 million litres a day to 470 mld, city households spend at least 30% more to seek Metrowater tanker on payment or from private suppliers.

With borewells going dry and piped water supply dwindling, the demand for tankers has gone up significantly. On an average, Chennai Metrowater registers between 1,500 and 2,000 bookings for mobile water supply on payment daily. However, residents note that it often takes even five or six days to receive water from the day of booking.

R. Srinivasan, a resident of Mylapore, said: “I have to alternate between tanker supply of Metrowater and private operators as there is a hike in demand. Water filling points do not accept booking any more and it is difficult to reach Metrowater’s helpline 45674567.”

In a bid to address the growing demand for mobile water supply, Chennai Metrowater has added 200 more lorries to its fleet of 400 tankers. It operates about 6,900 tanker trips, the highest in the recent decades.

Workers trying to fix a damaged pipeline on Outer Ring Road, Kundrathur.

 

Metrowater recently hired lorries and allocated areas based on lot system for the first time. While this has helped in curbing illegal water supply, allocation of tankers to other areas has also meant delay in supply as drivers are unaware of new locations, note lorry operators.

Several residents have also turned to packaged drinking water for uses other than drinking as piped water supply has either been completely suspended or due to poor water quality. V. Rajagopal of Anna Nagar Western Extension, said packaged drinking water consumption has doubled to four 20-litre bubbletops per week.

“I spend at least 30 % to 40 % more for water for a month now. Many people in my locality who used Metrowater for drinking have started buying bubbletop as the water received in sumps is often murky,” he added. Residents wanted additional helplines to be provided to book water without much hassles.

From wells

For the first time, Metrowater also started drawing water from abandoned quarries near Sikkarayapuram and Kundrathur on Tuesday and commissioned treatment at Chembarambakkam water treatment plant on trial basis. Officials said about 10 mld was drawn on Tuesday and the volume would be stepped up to 30 mld in one or two days. Moreover, steps are afoot to draw 4 mld of water from Porur lake from next week. The water drawn from the quarries would be supplied to the central parts of the city

“We are also looking to step up drawal from agricultural wells in Tiruvallur and wellfields in Neyveli.

We may have to further reduce supply to 420 mld once the resources in the reservoirs dry up in a couple of days. There are also plans to identify more sources like Nemam lake,” said an official.