Water Shortage in Parts of Chennai
Choolaimedu in Chennai is a residential hub that is well connected to T Nagar, Mount Road and Kodambakkam. Choolaimedu is now the residential heart of the city with high rises and apartments packed together. Another area, Kilpauk is now home to many high-rises – which may seem spacious but provide housing to thousands of thirsty throats. Kilpauk also has one of the oldest pumping stations in the city and can claim a welllaid water pipeline network-a reason for being a major consumer of water. The two areas together account for over half of all water consumption in Chennai. Experts conclude that density of population could be one reason for high consumption.
The total water demand for the city and adjacent urbanised areas is 710 MLD. The lowest water consumption is in Ekattuthangal with a requirement of just 7 MLD. As a rule of thumb, areas with more commercial, industrial establishments and fewer houses consume less water. Ekattuthangal, which houses Guindy Industrial Estate and IT majors, needs little water. A seemingly crowded and congested Triplicane consumes 14 MLD. Experts feel this could be because Triplicane has very few high-rises, and the population density is not much. Also, shops and commercial establishments take up much space in the area but need much less water, too.
Even though water consumption in Choolaimedu and Kilpauk are the highest in the city, many residents do not seem too focused on conserving the elixir of life. A few stress the need for water user associations across the city to spread the message of saving water. Of the 16 Metrowater distribution zones in the city, Kilpauk and Choolaimedu seem to be the thirstiest. On a typical day, the water demand in these two areas is 186 Million Litres per Day (MLD) and 190 MLD, respectively.
We supply nearly 695 MLD daily. Beside this there is also nearly 17 MLD of mobile water supply to pockets that have no connections,” said a Metrowater official. While it may be impossible to deny water to slums, officials can take it easy with apartment buildings, says one expert. For that reason, an area with a large slum may show higher water consumption levels.
A senior metrowater official said that once the sluice valves are installed in the water distribution pipelines, the supply will improve. Chairman of Metrowater Dr K Gopal said that every individual consumes 155 litres per capita per day. A family of four consumes 1,000 litres per day, but they store around 4,000 litres in sumps. “People should use Metrowater in a conservative manner. Otherwise it will be a burden on our department,” said Gopal adding that people should also save rainwater and ground water, too.
“Some families are using the water for all purposes other than drinking. They purchase 20 litre water cans for drinking purposes,” said S Kasthurirangan, secretary of the Choolaimedu Innovators Club.
He said that residents should stop using Metrowater for everything. “People must use piped water for drinking and kitchen purposes only,” he said. He recalls the recent past when all piped water had stopped and city residents had to spend anxious hours waiting for the water lorries. In 2005, CMWSSB was feeding the city exclusively with tanker water supply. At that time around 9,000 sintex tanks were fixed in the streets. In Kilpauk now residents state that there is no water problem. “We are in a better position as we have the main water distribution station in our locality and they have improved the pipelines some months back. The pressure is good except in the tail end. But people should learn to use water efficiently,” said Prakash H Lulla, patron of the Kilpauk Residents Welfare Association.
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