Metro Water cracks down on leaky tankers that waste 1 lakh litres daily

Chennai Metro Water Supply Sewerage Board (CMWSSB) officials claim that a sizable quantity of water is wasted on the roads due to improper maintenance of  tankers. Officials directed crew members to carry out repairs to arrest the issue. The directive comes at a time when the city is on the verge of a severe water crisis.  “We observed that many water tankers do not have proper covers and valves. We have instructed owners to carry out repair works,” said a senior engineer and added that one lakh litres of water was wasted every day. 

According to officials, the department supplies water from 15 filling points in the city and observed that large quantity of water was wasted due to spillage. They also noted that water was wasted during transportation due to leaks and rash driving. They said that they needed to put a mechanism in place to ensure that water was not wasted. While water managers in the city expressed satisfaction over this move, they pointed out that officials should have already taken such proactive measures. Professor, K Janakarajan, water expert, Madras Institute of Development Studies (MIDS), says, “The officials termed rainfall in 2015 as historic, but they were quick to change the term in 2016 to historic drought. When you have water in abundance, you will not take measures to save it and things are opposite, when there is no water.”