Tuesday

30


July , 2019
Water crisis in Chennai – a wake-up call
18:10 pm

Ankit Singh


Chennai has been facing a severe water crisis. There has been a 40% cut in piped water supply. All four reservoirs outside the city have dried up. In several parts of the city, the cost of water has doubled. According to reports from the Central Water Commission, a rainfall deficit of 41% in Tamil Nadu till June 13 made it the first Indian city to go dry. Apart from Chennai, other parts of Tamil Nadu have also been affected. Ground water levels have fallen sharply. Most of Chennai’s population today is dependent on water tankers and a curtailed municipal supply for daily requirement of drinking water. The fear that such a crisis can happen in other cities is rising. According to a report from the NITI Aayog, the country is facing the worst water crisis in its history and 21 Indian cities will run out of groundwater by 2020. 

What led to this? 

The dire situation is being closely monitored by the state and the central government along with Non-Government Organisations (NGOs) and several institutions. Arun Krishnamurthy, Founder, Environmentalist Foundation of India (EFI), an NGO working in the sector, told BE, “The Chennai water crisis is part of a larger global problem. Human negligence and turning a blind eye to climate change is producing grave situations such as this. Urbanisation,

overexploitation of ground water reserve, encroachment of lakes and ponds and lack of water literacy has led to this water crisis. We are trying to work towards reviving as many freshwater lakes and ponds before the monsoons this year, so that we are able to tackle the water crisis. We focus on scientific restoration of lakes and ponds through a community-based conservation model.” EFI has effectively restored two Chennai lakes in the past two months, namely the Veppanthangal Lake and Alleri Lake and plans on to eco-restore many more. Previously, the lakes were infested with sewage and garbage and were unable to retain rainwater. Around 160 volunteers helped in removing garbage and invasive weeds that were shrinking it for years and fenced the lakes.

Chennai has run out of water due to several reasons, the most important being the lack of water management. While inappropriate planning of land use and lack of measures for the conservation and management of water resources can be blamed for the current situation. Change in rainfall pattern is another factor. From extreme rainfall events to no rain for over 190 days, Chennai has often swung between floods and drought. Krishnamurthy stated, “This inconsistency in rainfall can be attributed to the effect of the climate change which the world at large has been ignoring in it’s zeal to create economic prosperity through industrialisation and rapid urbanisation. The development, in contrast, has adversely affected the environment and its natural water bodies and resources.”

Four water reservoirs provide water to Chennai, namely the Chembarambakkam, Red Hills, Cholavaram and Poondi reservoirs. As per data provided by Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (CMWSSB), in 2017, the combined water level in the four reservoirs was 4,365 mcft. The total storage capacity of the four reservoirs is more than 10,000 mcft. Since the reservoirs are running dry, Chennai is now dependent on other water sources, including stone quarries, agriculture wells and the Neyveli corporation mines.

Chennai has over 0.42 million wells according to Excreta Matters, 2012, a research by Delhi-based non-profit Centre for Science and Environment. Of these, only 27,000 are open wells, which extract 150 million litres per day (MLD) of groundwater — with the average rate of extraction at about 400 litres per well per day.

Additionally, around 66% of households in the city have their own private wells. This has led to a general fall in water levels as well as a decline in average yield per well. Between 1991 and 2002, groundwater levels fell at a rate of a little less than one metre a year; between 1999 and 2004, the level fell at a faster rate of close to two metres a year. The study also adds that there has been an increase in the number of bore wells and many open wells have dried up.

In 2003-04, the city faced severe water scarcity, but in 2005 a bountiful monsoon restored water levels in the reservoirs.  In 2019, the lakes are again dry after the state witnessed an overflow of the Chembarambakkam Lake due to floods back in 2015. With such uncertainties, managing reservoirs becomes difficult.

What are the steps being taken to tackle the crisis?

The first 50-wagon train carrying 2.5 million litres of water to Chennai arrived in the city on July 12, 2019. The state government plans to run four water trains everyday to ferry 10 million litres a day from Mettur reservoir, about 350 km away from the city. The state will pay the railways `32 lakh a day for the four trains. However, the water level at Mettur Dam, the source of water for these special trains, is currently less than half of the average level.

Despite scientific advancements in climatology and weather systems, predicting a weak monsoon or extreme rainfall event is still a challenge. So, with uncertainties around climate change impacts and certainities about growth of urban population, the situation demands fast and effective solutions.

Jal Shakti Abhiyan

The central government has launched a water conservation scheme, Jal Shakti Abhiyan, with the aim to provide piped water to every household in the next five years. It will largely focus on five aspects, namely water conservation and rainwater harvesting, renovation of traditional and other water bodies, reuse of water and recharging of structures, watershed development, and intensive afforestation.

The situation in Chennai and other parts of Tamil Nadu may well be the reality of many other Indian cities in near future and it is important to promote water conservation measures. As India’s urban population is set to increase, it is important to consider water resource availability and estimate the carrying capacity of cities for future. It is high time that appropriate lessons are learnt from this crisis and the city administrations across India work towards avoiding such crises.

 

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