KOCHI: Scorching summer and acute water scarcity have badly hit highrises in the city and outskirts which are solely dependent on tanker lorries. Several residents of big apartment complexes were forced to move to their respective native places during vacations due to the water scarcity.
Some apartment owners in Kakkanad have decided to dispose their property because of perennial water scarcity. There are widespread complaints about the poor quality of water being supplied by private tanker operators.
“I have decided to sell my apartment at Kakkanad near Infopark due to acute water scarcity. When I purchased the flat there was not much of a problem. Though the apartment complex has four or five borewells, water from it is not sufficient to meet the requirement. I had skin problems after using the contaminated water from the borewell. There is no mechanism to check the quality of drinking water being supplied by private tankers as well,” said Manoj N, who owns an apartment at a residential complex at Kakkanad.
Meanwhile, the Apartment Owners Apex Association is planning to submit a memorandum to the district collector seeking immediate steps to ensure quality of water being supplied by private operators.
“We have been getting several complaints from apartment complexes on use of contaminated water from borewells, poor quality of water supplied by tanker lorries and diseases caused by polluted water. The Association will submit a memorandum to the district collector seeking measures to entrust water supply exclusively to the Kerala Water Authority. Private tankers, who flout the norms, should not be allowed to operate,” said V. S Somanadhan, general secretary of the Association.
Though big residential towers have borewells and open wells, the contaminated water cannot be used for domestic purposes. Most of the complexes have five or six towers with an average 300 to 500 apartments. Even though many of them owned by NRIs are unoccupied, water consumption is the highest during peak summer. On an average, a member in the family has to spend Rs 200 per month for potable water supply by tankers.
