In Pics: Water Becomes a Luxury Item as Crisis Grips Chennai

These pictures give a glimpse into how the global water crisis might look... coming soon, to everyone else.

Drive through Chennai and you will notice almost every street dotted with colourful pots.

With all reservoirs bone dry, the crisis has crippled the city, leaving people desperate. Metro Water tankers have stepped in to provide people with water but the supply is nowhere close to the demand.

Private tankers, on the other hand, are expensive and not accessible to all. The dealers even complained that there aren’t many reservoirs in and around the city to even extract water from.

The Madras High Court on Wednesday, 12 June, asked the state government what steps have been taken to attend to the water problem. The judges asked about the status of desalination plants that were constructed along the East Coast Road and other areas.

Everyday when Asma comes back from school in the evening, she runs to the hand pump on the road with a pot. Giggling with her friends, talking about school and homework, she pumps water. Balancing the pot on her hip, she walks through the winding streets, chatting with her 3-year-old best friend. Her daily quota is to fill up at least five pots.

As dad goes to tie up the pots onto the sides of the scooter to head on a quest to find more water, the children take turns in hopping on for a ride. With water available in taps for hardly an hour in most places and water tankers coming only once in three days, people travel to different areas hoping to get at least enough water for bathing, drinking and cooking.

With Chennai Metro Water supply cut by 40%, the supply has been cut down to 525 million litres of water per day when the city actually needs 880 million litres of water per day. In most areas, water is available on tap in homes for hardly an hour, leaving everyone at the mercy of water tankers. However, with demand exceeding supply exponentially, metro water tankers have not been able to attend to the needs of the whole city.

Shahin’s job every alternate day at 6pm when the water tanker comes to the street, is to stand guard next to their five pots. With that adorable smile, she makes sure not to let anyone cut the line or push over her pots.

People in villages in and around Chennai have begun to protest against private tankers. Many residents have alleged that the need of the hour is for the government to streamline the activity. There is no fixed limit on how much water private tankers draw from wells or how much they charge the residents.

This is the sight at every street corner, in the heart of the city and the outskirts. At least the city receives water from the civic agency to some extent. Things are worse for those living in the IT corridor and beyond, which doesn’t fall under the city limits. The residents pay for water tankers everyday, spending Rs 1,500-3,500 every month.

Playtime is over. Everyone, young or old, is pitching in to help cope with the crisis.

This crisis should serve as a wake-up call for the government to formulate ways to increase water storage by building reservoirs and desalination plants.

Chennai’s largest source of drinking water, Chembarambakkam lake, which has a 3,500 million cubic feet capacity, is completely dry now. This was the same lake that flooded Chennai in December 2015. The other two reservoirs – Poondi and Red Hills – have also completely dried up, thus cutting down piped water supply.

Deficit rainfall during the 2017 Northeast monsoon and in 2018 has depleted the groundwater levels, thus drying up water bodies.

Nearly 880 lorries of Metro Water are making over 9,000 trips in a day, out of which 6,500 are for the slums. And still, the supply can’t keep up with demand.

Fathima watches her mother and brother pump 10 pots of water and carry them home. Her mother doesn’t let her carry anything but Fathima wants to help, so she skips along with her mother as she makes multiple trips from the hand pump to the house.

Now, bathing, cooking and drinking have become a luxury in the city. It becomes an ordeal for those who rear cattle and have to manage with just 15 pots of water for three days.