Water shortage worsens in Tamil Nadu due to poor rains

The water shortage in Tamil Nadu, including Chennai, is becoming more serious even though the south-west monsoon hit the southern part of the country in time almost two months ago.

The state is facing one of the worst droughts in more than 140 years, and this has been affecting life for several months.

Rainfall in Tamil Nadu, from June 1 to July 26, has been 32 per cent less than normal. The rains have been poor in around 59 per cent of about 32 districts of Tamil Nadu. Puducherry, a Union Territory, has seen an 18 per cent shortfall.

The state may have to depend on rain in the last part of the year, which is the north-east monsoon, according to experts.

According to data from the Central Water Commission (CWC), six major reservoirs in the state put together have around 8.63 per cent of their capacity.

The six important reservoirs — Mettur, Lower Bhavani, Vaigai, Parambukulam, Aliyar, and Sholayar — have a live storage of 0.365 billion cubic metres (BCM) as against a live capacity at the full reservoir level (FRL) of 4.229 BCM, according to the data on July 20.

The situation is worse in Chennai, which has a population of around 8.6 million in the metropolitan region alone, according to the Census 2011. The city also has a considerable floating population.

The city’s four reservoirs, which have a capacity of around 11,057 million cubic feet (mcft), have 101 mcft of water stored, which is less than one per cent of the capacity. Two of the four reservoirs are dry, with zero storage as ofJuly 26. The storage in the four reservoirs on the same day of last year was 3,398 mcft. The shortage has hit a majority of the people in the city, which relies on water supply from these reservoirs. According to reports, the requirement is around 1,200 million litres per day (MLD), while the authorities are able to supply around 980 MLD. The city manages the requirements with various water resources, including two desalination plants — one each in Minjur and Nemmeli — apart from individual borewells.

Local bodies and the state government are bringing water from borewells in neighbouring districts to cater for Chennai. There are around 700 tankers in the city, and one has to wait long to get water.

Drinking water scarcity is severe in many other parts of the state, including Salem, Dindugal, Trichy, and up to Nagercoil.

Refineries and sugar and textile mills, among other facilities, are looking at various options to save water, according to industry sources.

Despite the timely arrival of the monsoon, rain in Kerala and Karnataka too is deficient, according to the regional meteorological division. Rain in Kerala has been 28 per cent less than normal between June 1 and July 26. In Andhra Pradesh, it has been 9 per cent more. But the only important reservoir in the state is 10.48 per cent full.

Karnataka has a 26.77 per cent storage in 14 of its important reservoirs. According to India Meteorological Department (IMD) data, in Karnataka till July 25, of the 30 districts, the monsoon was deficient in almost 60 per cent of them.

Telangana, which has a capacity of 2.921 BCM, had only 0.476 BCM of water stored as of July 20.