Soon, Chennai residents to get real-time data on rainfall, groundwater levels

CHENNAI: Residents across Chennai will be able to get real-time data on rainfall in the city by next year with Chennai Metro Water setting up rain gauges in its 15 area offices covering 426 square kilometres.

"The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) has only two rain gauges. With 15 rain gauges, we will get real time data which we will be sharing with line departments. We are willing to share data with the IMD," said a Metro Water official.

Chennai Metro Water is currently undertaking a trial run after the rain gauges have been fixed in the area offices and the data will be available in February next year, the official said.

"This will come in handy as there is no uniformity in rainfall in the city," the official added.

Similarly, Chennai Metro Water is also installing digital water level recorders in 200 observation wells in the city to get real-time data on groundwater levels. "Currently, we have installed digital water level recorders in 70 places. By the month end, it will be up in another 200 borewells. It will be put in the public domain by February next year," the official said.

Interestingly, prior to this, the data was collected manually from the borewells located in sandy, clay and rocky areas of the city. The water level recorders will provide information on groundwater level and quality, including TDS, and check over-exploitation of resources. Currently, the data in the 70 borewells is being collated in the morning and evening, the official said.

It is learnt that the data will also help to understand the sub surface saturation of aquifers in the region. The vagaries of the monsoon made Chennai dependent on groundwater leading to its depletion. Official sources predict that the future demand projected for domestic utilization will put stress on the aquifer system. The anticipated demand for Chennai by 2025 is around 2000 MLD which would be a 50 percent increase over what it is now.

In Chennai, groundwater is being mined at the rate of 133 per cent of what is getting recharged, which is posing a serious threat to groundwater resources.