Water scarcity looms over city
With the mercury soaring and water sources drying up, the city and its outskirts are heading for a severe drinking water shortage.
The problem is getting worse as water levels in wells in the district are falling rapidly. There is an acute shortage of drinking water for citizens. Thrikkakara, Kalamasery and Tripunithura areas are the worst hit.
“We are facing severe water shortage. We can’t draw water from borewells as the groundwater levels have receded miserably. Water supply through tankers was also cut down due to the high demand,” said Sabitha Sreedhar who lives in Vazhakala.
The Kerala Water Authority admits that water supply through their pipelines has been affected even before the peak summer period.
“We are getting complaints every day about drinking water scarcity. We admit we can’t provide sufficient water to everybody. Supply through mainlines are affected in these days,” said a top KWA official.
According to KWA sources, the daily water demand in the city is 430 million litres. The demand will only rise in the hot summer months putting a greater strain on supply.
Local people and environmentalists say that urbanisation and growth of the construction sector is the main cause of the water scarcity. This has resulted in the extinction of natural water sources and receding ground water levels.
They accuse the ground water department of failing to crack down on construction companies that draw water illegally for their commercial activities.
Strangely, ground water department officials say that they have not issued permits to anybody in the district to draw water for commercial purposes and sell it.
Despite this, private water supplying agencies are selling water and exploiting the situation with impunity.
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