Deccan Chronicle 30.12.2009

20m litres of water to wash vehicles

Dec. 29: City folk misuse nearly 20 million litres of water every day to wash vehicles ignoring all high-decibel campaigns for water conservation.

As per the transport department there are over 18 lakh two wheelers and four lakh cars in the city. The number of heavy vehicles is around 69,000.Heavy vehicles need more water for cleaning and two wheelers much less.

“We need at least five to seven litres of water for car wash and if it is two – wheelers we need nearly three litres,” says Mr R.Selvarajan, who runs an automobile service centre near Royapettah. “But we cannot avoid it. When the customer demands a water service we will have to splash water. Our source is a borewell in the premises.”

Water conservation experts, however, criticise this habit and say that it hints at the lack of civic sense of Chennaiites.

“The urban elite take it for granted,” says Dr.Sekhar Raghavan, director of Chennai Rain Centre. “When the tap goes dry they cry foul and say they are paying money and they should get water.”

According to the Rainwater Harvesting Law, bath water and wash waster should be recycled and used in toilets and for cleaning vehicles. “This is not being followed at all,” says Dr Raghavan.

The Chennai Metro water Supply and Sewage Board (CMWSSB) also wants to put an end to the misuse of the precious resource.

“The water supplied by the CMWSSB is only for domestic consumption,” says Mr.Shiv Das Meena, chairman of CMWSSB. “We are always advising the public not to use metro water for washing vehicles.”

“It is very difficult to abandon the practice all of a sudden, but I have decided to reduce the number of times I wash my car,” says Mr K.Manikandan, who uses at least 10 litres of water to clean his car every week.