Tamilnadu’s capital, Chennai, the largest metropolis in the south of India, is ahead of the game in stemming leakage loss, Chennai Metro Water has taken several measures with a view to water conservation, equitable distribution and plugging of leakages. Residential lines were replaced with non-corrosive pipes, damaged distribution mains repaired and upgraded. This is stated to have brought down leakage level in the distribution systems from almost 30 percent to 5 percent. All this has resulted in substantial improvement in the average ground water level fluctuation of Chennai city. There are rainwater harvesting structures being installed in 10,000 buildings every year in the city. Metro Water is also active in distributing pamphlets to the public containing details about different methods of rainwater harvesting structures suitable for soil types existing in the city and urging all building owners to clean silt deposits in their rain water harvesting structures to boost ground water levels further, during the north east monsoon.
But a 71-city survey by CSE shows that Chennai is not able to balance the books because it does not factor in sewage.
Traditionally, Chennai has depended for water supply from its own neighborhood lakes and reservoirs. Foreseeing water insecurity, the government has implemented big-ticket desalination plants on the coast. In addition to diverting river water from a neighbouring state, its plans to pipe in water from a lake that is 235 kms. away is decried by critics, because it considerably amplifies its supply costs.
