Pipeline water comes to abrupt end in some areas

Coimbatore: Residents of Velandipalayam, who had been waiting for potable water supply for the past 13 days, were in for a shock on Saturday night when they were asked to collect water from lorries. This was the first time in the recent history when they were denied pipeline water supply. The area is fed by Siruvani water.
At just 2.5ft above the dead storage level, the water level in the Siruvani reservoir is critically low. Hence, the city corporation has been supplying Pillur water through lorries to the areas that are fed by Siruvani water.
Mohan, a resident of Velandipalayam, said they were earlier supplied potable water through lorries in 2016 when severe drought hit the district. “The arrival of water lorries after 7pm on Saturday indicated that the city is facing another water crisis. A few months ago, we were getting water every alternative day. The interval between water supplies had increased recently and now we are supplied water only once in 15 days.”
He said they were until recently supplied water through pipelines, though the force of water flow had come down. “A corporation worker has told us that even the next time water would be supplied to us only through lorries.”
Another resident, B Rangasamy, said only two lorries were deployed in their area to supply potable water. “Since there will be long queues, one won’t be able to fill more than a few pots as otherwise no water would be left for others.”
Pointing out that a family could collect just 10 pots of water, he wondered whether it would be sufficient for them until the next water supply after two weeks. Rangasamy said at times they used to collect potable water from neighbouring areas. “But not everyone would allow us to collect water as they are also short of water.”
Mohan, meanwhile, said they hadn’t washed their clothes for more than a week and they were saving water for other domestic purposes. “It has been some time since we received borewell water supply as well. Officials always cite faulty borewells and pipeline leakage as reasons for the delay.”
Since the water level is too low, the city corporation has brought down the quantity of water being drawn from the Siruvani reservoir. The areas fed by Siruvani water are now supplied Pillur water. “We are drawing additional 10MLD water from the Pillur reservoir to address the water scarcity. Presently, the water requirement of the city is 247MLD. We supply 180MLD through pipelines and the remaining through lorries,” said a senior corporation official, who didn’t want to be named.