City to get water from Siruvani soon

Tamil Nadu Water Supply and Drainage(TWAD) Board will soon pump Siruvani water to the city. According to sources, the Board, with approval from the Kerala Government, will pump 20 - 30 million litres of water a day to the city.

It will pump the water from dead storage area on the Siruvani Reservoir’s bed to the fourth in-take valve (the lowest). From there the water will reach the city through the main supply line. And from the main storage reservoir in Bharathi Park, the Corporation will supply the water to the city’s residents.

The TWAD Board sources say that after it got the green signal, it has started taking steps to pump the water. It would take a day or two for the water to reach the Bharathi Park reservoir.

Corporation sources say that it will use the water to feed the residents in the five Siruvani-dependent areas - Wards 15, 18, 19, 20 and 21 - who are hitherto fed with lorries.

Meanwhile, the Corporation is in talks with owners of private water tankers to increase the water supply. Sources say that the civic body has at present engaged 12 lorries in the five wards. This is likely to go up in the coming days.

Alternatively, the Corporation has also planned to erect water tanks on lanes and by-lanes in the five wards.

A preliminary estimate suggests that the Corporation will have to erect up to 60 tanks to feed residents on the lanes and by-lanes, where lorries would not be able to reach them. The tankers will fill water in the tanks and from the tanks the residents will fetch water.

The sources say that this will also reduce the time taken by lorries to supply water and result in increase in number of trips. At present each lorry does about five trips a day.

The sources add that all this depends on the tapping of the Siruvani water. If it comes through then the situation will ease a bit.