Chennai is facing an acute drinking water crisis amid the worst drought that it has experienced in 140 years as all four main reservoirs around the city, Poondi, Red Hills, Cholavaram and Chembarambakkam, have dried up.
The groundwater in Chennai and its surrounding areas is replenished by five lakes; Puzhal, Sholavaram, Kaliveli, Pulicat and Maduranthakam. All of these lakes are situated within a 60-km radius of the city. The lakes overflowed due to unseasonal rains in 2015, causing devastating floods in Chennai.
There is currently no daily supply of drinking water in Chennai, which requires 830 million litres of water a day. While 300 water tankers have been pressed into service, according to supply officials, the supply has halved over the last few days.
Some areas are only receiving drinking water every third day. The Veeranam Lake in Neyveli, which is more than 200 km away, and which supplies Chennai via a massive pipeline, is also dry. Authorities are tapping other resources in the area so that they can pipe at least 90 million litres a day to Chennai through the same pipeline.
Stone quarries in Kancheepuram and Thiruvallur and the two desalination plants in the city are the other primary sources of drinking water now.
Earlier this month, the Egmore railway station, which needs 7.5 lakh litres of water a day, was facing a huge crisis. “We have been reeling with shortage, so much so that there is no water to supply for water vending units,†a railway official had told Deccan Chronicle.
“The minimum the station needs are at least 6 lakh litres of water daily to ensure that water supply, cleaning of stations, coaches go on smoothly,†he had said.
There are literally thousands of water bodies situated in Chennai itself as well as in its neighbouring districts. According to green activists, rapid urbanisation led to a lack of upkeep of these water bodies; had they been properly maintained, Chennai would never have suffered from water crisis.
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