Chennai: As the New Year starts to unfold, here is some bad news for Chennaiites. City residents are staring at an acute water crisis, which could be the worst in the past 12 years.
The numbers on the combined storage capacity in the city reservoirs are alarming — as they mark the lowest since 2005, as the worst was experienced in the summer of 2004.
The sorry situation also reiterates the need to improvise rainwater structures in the city as ground water is fast depleting. According to the statistics from Chennai Metro Water, the combined storage capacity of the city's reservoirs — Poondy, Cholavaram, Red hills and Chembarambakkam — stands at 1,666 mcft on Monday. This marks the second worst, as the number was a mere 271.90mcft in January 2, 2004, after the North East Monsoon in 2003 failed.
“In the last ten years, the combined storage capacity in the city lakes has never dipped so low. Except in 2014 and 2015 (3,337 mcft and 3,152 mcft), the combined storage capacity always exceeded 8,000 mcft in the decade,” said a metro water official.
The crisis would not be as bad as it was in 2004 — as the two desalination plants in Nemmeli and Minjur supply 100 mld water each, thus facilitating the regular supply of 850 mld to the city every day. “The metro water could manage the supply through 180mld from Veeranam lake and 100 — 150 MLD from agricultural wells in Tiruvallur and Kancheepuram,” the metro water official added.
“Regular water supply cannot be expected this summer. This would result in a major demand of private water tankers in the city,” Sundaram, a metro water contractor said. According to water experts, the city could pull through for two months with the existing storage.
Prince Paul, who researches on the ground water levels in the city said the groundwater levels in interior and southern city areas have not dipped drastically. Ground water is available at 15-25 feet in South Chennai. Another major spell of rains could be a saviour to the city, he said.
