The Hindu 23.04.2010
Corporation confident of maintaining water supply
S. Ganesan
| To meet city's drinking water requirements during summer |
—Photo: M. Moorthy 
Precautious measure:Corporation earthmover engaged in channelising the flow in the Cauvery to provide a wetting to the drinking water infiltration and borewells in Tiruchi.
TIRUCHI: Though the scorching summer and the rapid depletion of ground water table in many parts of Tiruchi has raised apprehensions among residents, the Corporation authorities have expressed confidence of meeting the city's drinking water requirements right through the summer.
According to Corporation officials, there has been no reduction in the quantum of water supplied to the city. “We continue to maintain the normal supply of 98 million litres a day (MLD) to the city. In fact, we are pumping a slightly higher quantum over the past few days and currently around 99 MLD is being supplied to the city,” Corporation Commissioner T.T. Balsamy told The Hindu on Thursday. The Corporation was fully geared up to meet the drinking water requirements and does not anticipate any problem during the summer, he said.
Over the past few years, the Corporation has sunk additional borewells around its major drinking water pumping stations on the Cauvery River Bed, to meet any possible shortfall during the summer seasons.
As many as 16 borewells were sunk around the Main Pumping Station, one of the major sources. Of these 12 have been brought into operation now and four have been kept as standby.
Of the six borewells around the collector well, four have already been brought into operation while keeping a couple more in operational readiness. At the source of the Golden Rock Combined Drinking Water Supply Scheme, six of the 11 borewells have been brought into operation.
This scheme has been usually prone to suffer a drop in yield during the summer.
The yield from the source of the Srirangam Drinking Water Scheme at the Coleroon River remained good.
Over the past few days, the Corporation has been engaged in channelising the available water flow in the Cauvery River through the infiltration wells/borewells of the city's drinking water sources so as to keep them wet. Corporation earthmovers were deployed to divert the streams of water to flow along the infiltration wells. This was done as a measure of abundant caution rather than any exigency, officials explained.
