The Hindu              29.05.2013

Long wait for potable water ends here

V.S. Palaniappan

Residents cannot believe they will get Hogenakkal scheme water from today

Fifty-one-year-old Unnamalai of Mangarai at Pennagaram in Dharmapuri district breaks into a smile at the prospect of getting potable water from Wednesday under the Rs.1,928-crore Hogenakkal Water Supply Scheme and Fluorosis Mitigation Project.

It has been such a long wait that she and many others in the rural areas of Hogenakkal cannot believe that the scheme has been completed and will be commissioned on Wednesday.

“Let us see when the water is supplied. Announcements were made earlier too, but every time it got postponed for some reason or the other. We hope our dream will come true on Wednesday. We are not asking for anything more than good water to drink,” she said.

The scheme was drawn up to overcome the impact of fluoride in groundwater on 33 lakh people in the two districts that are known to have mostly barren hills and parched lands.

Consumption of water containing flouride had caused bone-related ailments and discolouration of teeth.

More than 40 per cent of the population in many habitations suffered these problems, says a senior Tamil Nadu Water Supply and Drainage Board official.

Living close to Cauvery

“We have been living very close to Cauvery river (source of the new scheme), yet it remained out of bounds for us all along when we struggled for even a pot of water,” says 67-year old V. Munian living near Papparapatti. Munian and many others walk or cycle two to three km every day for borewell water that has flouride up to 12.4 mg.

A study report with the TWAD Board says the permissible limit is 1.5 mg.

“I had seen many announcements on the Hogenakkal scheme timeframe, right from when Kamaraj was the Chief Minister. Let me first get the water and taste it to believe it,” he adds sceptically.

Residents at Alamarathupatti say they have been fetching 20 pots of water a day from a borewell, located two km from their village. Men use mopeds or cycles to carry four pots of water each, while women walked with two pots each.

All family members have to be involved in fetching water from 5 a.m. to 8 a.m. and from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m., including those who had to go to school or college.

The New Indian Express           28.05.2013

Metro Water sources said they are banking on 300 cusecs of Krishna water per day from the first week of June (in the photo: Red Hills reservoir) | D Sampath Kumar

In the wake of declining water levels in reservoirs, Chennai Metro Water is reorganising the water distribution system in the city.

Metro Water sources told City Express on Saturday that the reservoirs which supply water to the city have only 2,349 million cubic feet and reorganisation arrangements are being made in seven zones. The seven zones include Tondiarpet, Royapuram, Thiru Vi Ka Nagar, Anna Nagar, Teynampet, Kodambakkam and Adyar.

“We are working out an arrangement where the reorganisation of piped water distribution is done on alternate days,” Metro Water officials said.

Piped water is currently supplied from Poondi, Red Hills and Chembarambakkam. Officials said Poondi has 352 million cubic feet of water, Red Hills has 901 million cubic feet of water and Chembarambakkam has only 1,096 million cubic feet.

Sources said there would be no change in the present rate of water supply in the other eight zones, Metro Water — Tiruvottiyur, Manali, Madhavaram, Ambattur, Valasaravakkam, Alandur, Perungudi and Sholinganallur.

Metro Water sources said they are banking on 300 cusecs of Krishna water per day from the first week of June — once the temporary works by Andhra Pradesh irrigation department in Uppalamadagu canal near Kalalahasti in Andhra Pradesh is completed, besides additional water from the Neyveli, Tamaraipakkam and Poondi wellfields.

“The water situation in the city depends on the rain gods, only then can the supply of piped water return to normal,” metro water sources added.