Monsoon flop: Water supply to Chennai may hit Tiruvallur

While four of the reservoirs supplying water to Chennai from Tiruvallur district have minimal storage, locals fear that if water is sent to Chennai, their daily supply could be affected too.

Tiruvallur which is known as “Land of lakes” now faces the rapid decrease in the water levels due to the failure of monsoon, said local activist Atthur Das. “The district farmers are now facing a water shortage for the crop cultivation and now to enable cultivation the farmers need help from the government,” he said.

Das pointed out that scarcity of drinking water in Tiruvallur district has now become a concern among the people of this district. “Tiruvallur district which supplies water to neighbouring Chennai has to consider the drinking water needs of the locals in this district”, he added.

When asked about the scarcity of water, Executive Engineer Muthaiya from Public Works Department said the water shortage was primarily due to failure of rains.

“Tiruvallur district which has 325 lakes spread across the district, now has under 50 percentage of water storage. The water can be maintained for another 90 days for cultivation purposes only. Alternative arrangements will be made to the farmers within the span of 15 - 20 days and the government is taking steps to eliminate this issue,” he said.

Muthaiya pointed out that most farmers in the district use borewells for agriculture and ground water level was good as of now. “As far as the drinking water is concerned there would not be a problem in the supply for Tiruvallur since the water will be brought to reservoirs in time,” Muthaiya said.

He added that Krishna water from Andhra Pradesh will also be used to manage the scarcity of water in Tiruvallur district.