Chennai: Residents of Tambaram are facing an acute drinking water shortage this summer due to fast depleting ground water table in the Palar river basin.

The Palar river basin is a major source of drinking water for the Southern suburbs of Chennai including Tambaram and Palla­varam municipalities.

Though the Tambaram municipality officials claim that they are supplying drinking water to the resident once in four days, the public says that they barely get water once in a week. At present, Tambaram receives 65 lakh litres of water a day as against the actual requirement of 125 lakh litres from the Palar basin. 

Tamil Nadu Water Supply and Drainage Board (TWAD) officials cite depletion of water table in the Palar basin, pilferage of water from the pipeline in Villayambakkam near Wallajahbad by farmers and frequent power cuts as reasons for the fall in the water supply. “The problem was acute last week. Now we are receiving 90 lakh liters a day as we are bringing the water through Oragadam pipeline,” the official said.

Tambaram municipal chairman M. Karikalan said that the main problem facing the local body is not the water shortage but the inadequate distribution facilities. “The water pipelines laid in the municipality is nearly five decades old and it gets frequently damages as it could not withstand the pressure,” he said, adding that the municipality has drawn up a proposal to revamp the existing pipelines at a cost of `35 crore for which the funds have been sought from the state government.

Besides, the local body also proposes to construct two water tanks at Old Tambaram and Thiruneer­malai Road with one lakh litres capacity each in addition to the one at Muthuranga park. “We are taking all the necessary steps to ensure supply of drinking water to each and every household in the local body,” he said.