The New Indian Express 22.09.2010
City will face water shortage by 2026: Report
The city will face a water shortage of 300 million litres a day (MLD) by 2026, according to the Chennai Metro Water Supply and Sewerage Board. This prospect has prompted it to appoint consultants to look at new sources, its managing director Shiv Das Meena said on Tuesday. Their report is expected to come out by next March.
“The total water requirement of Chennai by 2026 will be 2,249 MLD.
We have ‘identified sources’ producing 1,950 MLD of water including Veeranam, desalination plants and other water-sharing pacts with Andhra Pradesh. Still there is a gap of 300 MLD,” Meena told delegates at the Tamil Nadu Water Summit-2010 organised by CII.
All this when the metro is trying to come out of its age-old image of being a water-wars city — after the implementation of rainwater harvesting systems in 2001-02 under the then AIADMK government.
On Tuesday, experts also expressed concern about the existing inequitable distribution pattern of water in the state. Government data show Tamil Nadu having a per-capita availability of water much lower than the national average.
“It is 800 cubic metres, against 2,300 cubic metres,” pointed out Raghuttama Rao, member of CII’s National Committee on Water.
Over-exploitation and poor management of waterways were adding to the problem, he added.
Chimed in minister and summit chairman Vincent H Pala: “Tamil Nadu’s industries would need 70,000 cubic litres of water by 2050.
Else, it will hit the state’s image of being investor-friendly.”
