New Delhi: Chennai is in the middle of a severe water crisis which has not only led to violent clashes between locals over drawing and storing water but also to a partial shut down of the city’s commercial establishments.
With no rain in the last 200 days, and none forecast in the immediate future, it is being reported that nearly 5,000 employees who work in the city’s IT hub on Old Mahabalipuram Road (popularly known as OMR) have been asked to work from home.
Citywide, residents have been struggling to book water tankers, with reports coming in of the government cutting water supply to houses which are allegedly drawing water illegally. Restaurants and shopping malls have cut down on their working hours. The Railways too have had to borrow water from neighbouring states for passenger services.
Chennai Metro Water Supply and Sewerage Board, reported PTI, has been unable to meet the water requirement of the city. However, T.N. Hariharan, the managing director of the Board, sought to underplay the crisis when approached by Indian Express, and said the situation was not as ‘alarming as it was being projected’.
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However, the same report carries news of water wars leading to an activist being beaten to death for protesting against locals storing more water than needed, and a man and his wife being attacked and stabbed after switching on a pump to draw water.
Why such a crisis?
Chennai’s groundwater, it is being reported, is entirely depleted, drying its borewells. Meanwhile, the city and several other parts of north Tamil Nadu have been reeling under heatwave or severe heatwave conditions this summer.
Hariharan, in the Express report, has been quoted as having said that the water supply of the Chennai Metro board has come down to 525 million litres a day from the usual 830.
Lakes like Poondi and Cholavaram had already dried up, reported New Indian Express and recently, the Chembarambakkam lake and Puzhal lake in the Red Hills have also gone dry to the point where even a single spell of monsoon rain can be expected to hugely benefit the city.
The Chembarambakkam lake, according to data updated daily on the Chennai Metro board’s official website, has a full storage capacity of 3,645 million cubic feet of water. At present, it has just one million cubic feet of water left.
Right now, Chennai is depending solely on water sourced from two desalination plants, the Veeranam lake in Cuddalore, agriculture bore wells and 22 rock quarries in Chikkarayapuram.
Deficient rainfall, coupled with rapid groundwater depletion, mostly thanks to big industries, seems to have led Chennai down this path. A Down to Earth report from as early as 2015 notes suburban residents of Sivaji Nagar, Tiruvengadam Nagar, Santhosh Nagar and Himachal Nagar complaining that the groundwater in the region is no longer fit for use as it was being contaminated by a factory nearby.
What is being done?
One June 13, the Madras high court sought a report from the Tamil Nadu government on the situation. News18 reported that a division bench of justices S Manikumar and Subramonium Prasad has directed additional government pleader E. Manoharan to submit a report on measures the E.K. Palaniswami government had taken to ensure city residents get water.
The court had reportedly come down heavily on the government, urging it to also enumerate the status of desalination plants that had been recently constructed along East Coast Road.
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The News Minute quoted state municipality and rural administration minister S.P. Velumani as having said that the Tamil Nadu government was ‘doing its best’. Meanwhile, chief minister Palaniswami met the Union Jal Shakti minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat at New Delhi on June 15.
At a press conference in Coimbatore, Velumani was reported as having mentioned that several pre-emptive measures had been taken by his government, including infrastructure work conducted by the likes of the Tamil Nadu Water Supply and Drainage Board at the municipality and panchayat level, allegedly costing several crores.
Velumani also advised people to dig borewells where water supply is optimum and also spoke of an understanding with the Andhra Pradesh government over water sharing.
What are the charges being traded?
Like much else, a political blame game has begun over the crisis too. Dravida Munnetra Kazhagham chief M.K. Stalin on June 14 asked for Velumani’s resignation and urged Palaniswami to dismiss him from the cabinet if he did not quit.
Demanding to know why “people were being made to wait for 15 to 18 days to get water through state-run Metrowater lorries,” Stalin said the public had been running from pillar to post to get even a pot of water and criticised the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam government for the situation.
When TN was hit by #VardhaCyclone he was holidaying in Kerala.
When TN was suffering from #ChennaiFloods he was holidaying in London.
Now when TN is affected by serious water crisis he is holidaying in Singapore?
Who’s he? None other than Leader of Opposition @MKStalin #Shame
— SG Suryah (@SuryahSG) June 16, 2019
Meanwhile, the Bharatiya Janata Party in the state has blamed Stalin for his alleged absence during this crisis. Senior leader S.G. Suryah has said it is “shameful” that Stalin is allegedly holidaying at this time.
In April-May this year, when the state was already facing severe water shortage, the government decided that performing yagnas would be a good solution to the crisis. All temples under the government’s Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments departments were asked to perform yagnas praying for rain.