Rs. 76-lakh drinking water scheme for slum tenements

By Feroze Ahmed

CHENNAI, AUG. 7. Slum-dwellers have been hit the hardest by water scarcity in the city. They have no option but to adapt to the drought-like situation using any available water for cooking and drinking purposes.

To help tide over the crisis, the Metrowater Board has decided to give top priority to water supply to multi-storey Slum Clearance Board buildings.

With directions from the Chief Minister, Ms. Jayalalithaa, the Metrowater has selected about 100 slums for providing deep borewells, pump sets and storage tanks, Board officials said. The water thus available can be used for domestic purposes other than drinking or cooking, they added.

The Rs. 76-lakh scheme is expected to be completed by August 15.

The Metrowater Board has also decided not to charge for water supplied to about 150 slum tenements in the city. According to officials, more than 600 trips are made by lorries to these tenements alone. The efforts are supplemented by distributing water through street supply and by erecting storage tanks in the buildings.

At the Okkiyam Thoraipakkam slum colony, a settlement severely affected by the water scarcity, the board is arranging for supplying water to the 3,000-odd residences by laying pipelines and about 80 public fountains at Rs. 70 lakhs.

Presently, the Board is supplying one lakh litres of water from the Southern Coastal Aquifer. Pipelines for the new tenements in the colony will be laid after completion of road works, officials said.

The Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board has been facing a crisis at Okkiyam Thoraipakkam as residents there are dependent entirely on Metrowater and alternative sources for water supply. Residents complain that the groundwater available is not potable and is too hard even for domestic consumption.

According to Slum Board officials, new multi-storey tenements will be provided with rainwater harvesting structures to improve both the quality and quantity of water, and storage tanks with filters built into this system provides additional ready-to-use water after every shower.

In some areas, private companies have been stepping in to distribute water through lorries, but it is done at random and not regularly.

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : Southern States
Previous : Ramnad Collector asked to send report on mishap
Next     : Housemaid gagged, jewellery stolen