With onset of summer, water becomes scarce

COIMBATORE: The onset of summer will impact the drinking water supply to core city areas in the coming week as the city municipal corporation will supply Siruvani water only once every four days from this week onwards. The decision to reduce the frequency of Siruvani water supply has been taken in view of the dipping water level in Siruvani dam, the main source of drinking water to the city.However, officials added that the situation is not as bad as it was the previous year and the city might just scrape through the summer months till the next spell of rain.
"Siruvani water supply will take place once every four days in the coming week. But there is no need to panic as the water situation is far better than it was last year," said G Latha, commissioner, Coimbatore Municipal Corporation.
As of now, 23 wards in the central and west zones of the corporation including Gandhipuram, RS Puram and Race Course areas are receiving Siruvani water. The city is receiving 80mld of water from Siruvani on a daily basis as of now which had gone down to 25mld last year due to lack of rain in Siruvani catchment areas in Kerala. The city corporation had to even impose a temporary freeze on allotment of fresh water connections till the arrival of monsoon. The corporation had earlier interlinked Pillur and Siruvani supply lines so as to divert Pillur water to Siruvani fed areas last year. The water level at Siruvani as on Sunday is 869.7m.
"Some parts of RS Puram are also getting Siruvani water on a daily basis as of now. But the supply schedule will change from this week onwards," said a corporation official.
Meanwhile, suburban residents from areas like Saravanampatti and Thudiyalur are now supplied drinking water once every 8 to 10 days from the Pillur sdrinking water supply scheme. It is a perennial source and unlike Siruvani does not suffer major fluctuations during summer months. However, the corporation is yet to enhance its infrastructure facilities in the form of additional overhead storage reservoirs to streamline the water supply. As of now, there are 29 service reservoirs for the Pillur scheme apart from 12 Siruvani reservoirs as part of the existing water distriubution network of the corporation. But the civic body needs to construct 24 more water reservoirs for Pillur fed areas to streamline water distribution and bridge the gap in the supply cycle more effectively.