The Hindu           26.09.2014 

Corporation to regulate water supply to apartments

Water issue:Mayor V.V. Rajan Chellappa addressing the corporation council meetingon Thursday.— Photo: R. Ashok

The municipal corporation has decided to cut down water supply to apartments following objections raised at the council meeting here on Thursday.

The civic body has also decided to regulate drinking water supplied through tankers for hotels, restaurants, hospitals and commercial establishments. This was announced by Mayor V.V. Rajan Chellappa and Corporation Commissioner C. Kathiravan who instructed the corporation staff to give priority to water requirements of common people.

Their intervention came in reply to a question raised by zone chairman and senior councillor P. Salaimuthu who said proliferation of apartments had resulted in common people not getting adequate supply of water through tankers.

Mr. Kathiravan said steps would be taken to regulate water supplied to apartments and commercial establishments. “We will disconnect illegal water connections. The availability of water is less than the demand,” he added.

Mr. Chellappa directed the officials to ensure that water supplied through tankers was not misused by apartments as complained by the zone chairman.

Earlier, briefing the councillors about water needs, City Engineer A. Mathuram said the total requirement for the 100 wards of the city was 205 million litres per day (MLD) whereas only 115 MLD was available through Vaigai water schemes.

Hoping that the situation would improve in the coming days, Mr. Kathiravan said a proposal for Rs.550 crore had been sent to the State government to revamp water distribution, and to get additional 63 MLD through other sources.

The Hindu         26.09.2014  

Water quality monitoring to be ramped up

More areas will be monitored for water quality to tackle contamination during the northeast monsoon, which usually sets in by October end.

A press release said Chennai Metrowater will increase the collection of samples during the monsoon from the present 150 to 200 locations daily across the city. Similarly, bacteriological testing to identify contamination will be increased from 60 to 80 areas daily. At present, Metrowater’s staff manually collects over 2,500 water samples daily from various points.

If water contamination persists, residents may contact the area offices concerned or the complaint cell- 45674567 for tanker water supplyResidents may contact the respective area engineers for any water/sewer-related problems. The last two digits will vary according to the zones. For instance, area engineer I will be available on 8144930901 and area engineer XV on 8144930915.