With Veeranam lake parched and city reservoirs drying up, Chennai Metro Water has cut down domestic water supply, fearing a near drought in the months ahead.

Senior CMWSSB (Chennai metropolitan water supply and sewerage board) sources told DC that they have unofficially cut down the quantum of water supplied in the city by not less than 25 per cent in some areas.

Worse, the reduction was made from volume very recently supplied and not the standard 135 lpcd (liters per capita per day) set by central public health organisation.

Per capita water supply has fallen below 70lpcd in several areas, sources revealed attributing the reduction to a failed southwest monsoon and also the forecast for the northeast monsoon, expected by mid October is not quite encouraging.

The combined storage in all the four reservoirs Chembarambakkam, Cholavaram, Poondi, and Puzhal reservoirs at present is only 3.6 tmcft as against the total storage of 11.06 tmcft.

Chennai Metro Water has cut down domestic water supply, fearing a near drought in the months ahead.

Metro officials have pressed the panic button also due to shortfall in Krishna water released from Kandaleru reservoir in Andhra Pradesh now. The city realises less than 300cusecs, against the 1,200 cusecs discharged from Kandaleru, owing to illegal pumping by farmers along Krishna canal.

Currently, Chembarambakkam, Cholavaram, Poondi and Puzhal reservoirs jointly store 3.6tmcft and metro claims to supply 800mld to the city plus another 30mld to the added areas.

Around 790 mld was only treated at the water treatment plants with a total capacity of 1,398 mld, sources noted citing inadequate water availability. The 180mld Vadakuthu treatment plant remains shut owing to nil storage in Veeranam.

Likewise, the 300mld Red Hills plant treats a little over 180mld due to water deficit. Metro water officials fear that the city would suffer acute water shortage if the NE monsoon gets slightly delayed.

Meanwhile, residents of peripheral Madipakkam, Ullagaram and Keelkattalai among other added areas that are yet to get Chennai Metro Water supply have already suffered deep holes in their pocket due to purchase of water from private operators.

Chennai has lost 50% of water spread area

The prevailing water shortage and speed at which bore wells dry up in Chennai do not surprise the water managers. They are aware that the water spread area or lakes that recharge groundwater have shrunk by over 50 per cent in Chennai over years.

According to official documents, copies of which are available with this newspaper, pertaining to 29 lakes the state PWD handed over to Chennai Metro Water in and around the city, the total water spread area of 21 lakes is 98.78 lakh square meters and the volume of water spread area handed over to the metro water was 64.15 lakh sq meters.

Interestingly, about 48.36 lakh sq meters of water-spread area was encroached by buildings and huts in places where once flourished aquatic fauna and flora.

Even as per the PWD record, lakes in Mogappair, Valasaravakkam, Virugambakkam, Kolathur, Senneerkuppam, Adambakkam, Ullagaram and Talakanancheri in Tambaram are fully encroached and not in existence. Of the remaining lakes, the worst affected is Tambaram Puduthangal lake, where 9.65 lakh sq meters was encroached and PWD handed over only 77,300 sq meters to CMWSSB (Chennai metropolitan water supply and sewerage board).

This is followed by Velachery Lake, which lost 7.51 lakh sq meters of the total 9.75 lakh to encroachers.

The encroached water spread area is nothing but the precious ground and surface water Chennaiites are deprived off, reasoned a senior PWD expert adding that the lakes or water spread area, if they were not lost, would have doubled be present surface and groundwater potential of Chennai and it would have been readily available for supply to the city.

Welcoming the 4.2tmcft capacity addition proposed by the state, PWD experts said Tamil Nadu’s reliance on Krishna water or neighbouring states could be minimized if the local surface storages facilities are carefully preserved.