Chennai: With water crisis hitting every part of the city, several gated communities/apartments in the city, probably for the first time, have resorted to rationing of water. As a resident of one of the gated communities on 200 Feet Radial Road, Pallikaranai, it has been quite challenging to handle this (water) stress for the last one month.
Several factors drove the gated communities to take this hard decision of rationing. Firstly, most of the high-rises are not able to monitor the water consumption of an individual flat due to complicated piping network. So reducing the consumption in every flat has become impossible.
Secondly, borewells in apartments, which lent a helping hand until a month ago, have almost dried up. Private water lorries, unable to source water from their regular wells now, ply to far off places to get water. As a ripple effect, they either don't supply their scheduled water loads or demand exorbitant rates.
Lastly, a significant amount of water is consumed by house maids for cleaning utensils and houses and washing clothes. Drivers and car cleaning staff also use water. Despite residents' caution on judicious use of water, majority of them are not aware of basic water conservation practices.
With taps going dry for 10 hours a day, residents in our apartment have rescheduled their work at home and office.
House maids now come in time so that they can finish the work before water supply is stopped. Car cleaning is managed with a little water.
Water rationing seems to have made residents alert to conservation, reduce consumption and finish their household chores on time!
