City corpn’s water supply schedule goes for a toss

Coimbatore: While the city corporation started sharing the water supply timings and areas in advance on WhatsApp, Twitter and Facebook from the third week of April to help people store adequate water, the residents complained that the civic body wasn’t sticking to its schedule.
M Vasanthi, a resident of V G Rao Nagar from ward 20, said she was looking forward to storing water and washing clothes on Monday, as her area figured in the list of areas to be supplied water on that day.
She took leave for the same, as the water would be supplied next only after 10 days. Her area was supposed to get water at 10am, but that did not happen. She waited till noon without any success. When she left for her office at noon, as she didn’t want to waste the whole day, the water supply started.
“I stored as much water as possible after I returned home at 7pm. Since the pressure was low, I could not get adequate water. I have to be very judicious in using the water for the next 10 days. Otherwise, I will be forced to buy water,” she said.
R Prabhakaran, councillor from ward 47, said he was the one who raised the plight of residents, who couldn’t store the water after the supply frequency changed, in the council, forcing the corporation to share the water supply timings in advance. “It is of no use now, as the timings are not followed. Sometimes, the water supply is delayed by a day.”
When contacted, an official with the corporation’s engineering wing said it was impossible to follow the timings because of the frequent power disruptions at Pillur, the main source of water for the city. “Since it is a forest area, power disruptions because of natural causes are unavoidable. On Monday, the power supply was disrupted for more than three hours. This hit the water supply schedule.”