City in shortage of 180 million litres of war

KOCHI: At a time when alternatives for pipe water is dwindling by the day, the Kochi city gets less than 60 per cent of its water requirements. As of now, the city needs 430 million litres of water every day. However, the city gets a maximum of 250 litres from its Aluva plant resulting in daily shortage of more 180 million litres. “The pumping capacity of the Aluva plant is 225 million litres of water per day. Currently, it is pumping around 250 litres to cope up with the heavy water shortage. But as per the population in 2011, if every person in the city is to be supplied a fixed amount of 140 litres of water, then the city needs as much as 430 million litres of water. After the HUDCO water project, there has been no major water supply projects for the city. So our water supply remains static even while the population and the individual demand has been going up,” said G Vanaja, Superintendent Engineer, Kerala Water Authority.The largest burden of the water scarcity is borne by the tail end areas like Chellanam, Kumbalangi, Cheranaloor, Vennala, Thammanam and other bordering areas of the city. Also, an increase in consumption of water in the central parts of the city has a direct bearing on the water supply in these areas. “Water reaches these areas after passing through the central parts of the city where consumption of water is more than what is relegated to them. Unlike telephone or electricity, in the case of water there is no way to supply uniform quantities. All we can do is to urge people to avoid over-consumption,” said the Superintendent Engineer.In fact, even the much-hyped Pazhoor drinking water project which is expected to provide 100 million litres of water per day after being materialised, will still leave the city short of 80 million litres of water daily.