Chennai is struggling to tide through the water crisis and residents have taken desperate measures to tap water, even illegal ones. Metro Water supply to 230 houses in the city have been terminated in the last six months after residents were found drawing water illegally from the common line through motors to extract more water.

In July alone, 68 such connections were cut by the Chennai Metro Water Board. Officials said earlier water connection to such houses were only temporarily cut and residents had to pay a fine of Rs 10,000 plus Rs 7,500 as reconnection charges. But due to the current drought scenario, repercussions are harsher with their connections being cut for a year. Such violations have been on the rise since the water shortage worsened. 40, 31, 40 and 68 cases were detected in the months of April, May, June and July respectively.

Officials said other residents in the tail end area of a locality alert them when water supply decreases in pressure to their houses due< to illegal tapping in houses before them. The water line which is connected to a hand pump of a house is intercepted and another motor is fitted. A separate hose or pipe is connected to this motor to draw extra water. “Sometimes, residents do not allow us to come inside< their houses. This is when we take a few police personnel with us,” said a Metro Water official.

Contrary to stereotypes, officials said that such cases were not found in slums or dwellings of below poverty line families but were found in affluent neighbourhoods and mostly in apartment complexes. A huge chunk of this number belonged to houses in zone 8, Anna Nagar. Water supply to 75 houses in this area was cut by Metro Water since January. Since January, 45 such cases were detected in MMDA Colony in Anna Nagar.

Least number of such cases were found in Tiruvottiyur, Perungudi and Sholinganallur. Since January, only 11 cases were detected in all three zones put together. “In apartments where they are many tenants, utility is much more hence sharing of water becomes a problem. In wards 105 and 108 alone in Anna Nagar, we found more than 30 such cases in July. Because we have a separate team for cracking down on such violations, we were able to detect so many cases,” said a Metro Water official from Zone 8.