How Chennai’s OMR residents are at the mercy of private water tankers

With borewells running dry and no piped water connection, residents of Chennai’s OMR have no option but to rely on private tankers.

news Urban Infrastructure

For around four lakh families living in the IT hub of Chennai, one of their biggest fears came true when private water tankers threatened to go on strike from May 27. Also known as the IT Expressway due to the hundreds of IT and ITES companies that dot the skyline, the Old Mahabalipuram Road (OMR) is solely dependent on private water tankers for potable water supply. The strike, that was later withdrawn, was the reason OMR residents chose to write to the Chief Minister seeking his attention at their grave situation.

With groundwater depleted and borewells going dry, the severe water crisis in Chennai has forced residents in several neighbourhoods to rely on water tankers– managed both by private players and the Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (CMWSSB). Residents like those in OMR, who have no piped water connection, say they have no option but to depend on private water tankers, even when they increase prices at whim.

At the mercy of water tankers

One homeowner in Navalur tells TNM that in addition to depending on private water tankers, residents have to pay the exorbitant rates quoted. "At the beginning of the summer we would have agreed upon a particular rate. But as the days go by, the tankers will start demanding more money. They behave like a cartel and so we cannot even look for an alternative. Rates are doubled and even tripled sometimes. Even appealing to the local panchayat leader about this was of no use," he says, on the condition of anonymity.

While a 9 Kilolitre water tanker from CMWSSB costs Rs 750, the rates for a private water tanker charges anywhere upwards of Rs 1200.

Srikanth, a resident of Olympia Opaline, which has around 120 residential units within the gated enclave in Navalur, says, “Though we have always purchased water as this place is outside metrowater limits, the sudden price increase has happened with us as well. As of now, we spend around Rs 2,000 for one tanker and we buy 20 such tankers per day to cater to the needs of our residents.”

Speaking to TNM, Harsha Koda, Coordinator of FOMRRA, a collective of 100 Resident Welfare Associations on OMR says that they have been pushed to this situation because CMWSSB’s water tanker do not supply to this stretch (OMR).

“Their online booking system is not reliable. It has crashed for the last three days and we can't make a booking because they take five days to give water. They are not able to bridge the gap and when a private player has stepped into do it for a charge, they shouldn't make things harder,” he explains.

No pipelines, no water

Harsha says that the many appeals to CMWSSB to provide them with a water pipeline connection have only fallen on deaf ears.

“They keep saying that they will give us a connection in a couple of months but it has been 10 years since these promises started. We were initially told we will get water from the Nemmeli desalination plant. But it bypasses us and goes to Velachery because the Corporation has not completed the pipeline work here. Chennai Corporation keeps blaming the Public Works Department (PWD) and CMWSSB alternatively for lack of progress,” he observes.

Emphasising on the point that the fees paid to CMDA during construction of the apartments includes electricity and water connection charges, Harsha says that despite paying the amount, residents are left in the lurch. Some residents on OMR also expressed their anger at having to pay water taxes when they were yet to get a single drop from the state.

“We live in constant anxiety over water. Every morning when we go for a walk we first ask if the water lorry came. This is our primary cause of concern," Harsha laments.

Are flat owners to be blamed?

However, there has also been criticism that Chennai’s expansion and the unscrupulous construction of apartments on the OMR has in many ways caused this crisis. Many have also pointed out that several of these house owners knew exactly what they were getting into – a property with no water connection.

KP Subramaniam, visiting professor, Urban Engineering in Anna University however rejects such criticism. Placing the blame squarely on the city planning authorities for the present crisis, he says, “When plots/flats approved by appropriate authorities are made available for sale, how can housing aspirants be blamed? How would they apprehend scarcity of essential amenities? It’s only the planning authorities, who should have forecasted and analysed all those issues. Therefore, if at all, it’s only the failure of planning and not the people.”

Adding that the growth of Chennai can be countered only through appropriate strategies and policy corrections, Subramaniam points out that these issues can be solved only by pumping investment for industrialisation and infrastructure development of Tier II cities like Coimbatore, Madurai, Trichy, Salem and Tirunelveli.

Demand-supply gap will soon be bridged

Speaking to TNM about the water woes faced by the residents of OMR, a senior official from CMWSSB says that the authorities are working to augment the supply.

“We have around 900 tanker lorries of various sizes on hire. These lorries make around 9,000 trips a day together. Of this, around 6,500 trips are free trips, which means the tankers go to areas which already has deficit of water supply and provide water for free. The remaining is set aside for ‘Book a water tanker’ service,” he says.

The CMWSSB supplies around 525 MLD of water to Chennai every day when demand is 830 MLD during the peak summer season. The water authority introduced the facility to book water tankers in 2017, by which consumers can purchase water from CMWSSB on payment of a fee. Consumers can book tankers through the Chennai Metrowater website using their unique water connection IDs. The CMWSSB official adds that they receive at least 3,500 such bookings per day through the website and since there is no upper limit on the number of bookings that can be made, there are a lot of backlogs and duplications.

“We are in the process of readying up smaller vehicles with 2,000-3,000 litres capacity with tankers to ply as makeshift water carriers. We intend to hire 200 such vehicles in the coming days to ease up the situation. These vehicles will be making 15-20 trips a day which adds up to 3,000-4,000 trips a day over and above the 2,500 trips we already have,” he added.

He also added that on the demand side, the CMWSSB is trying to streamline the bookings so as to prevent duplication. “A lot of bookings happening today is panic-induced booking. We will try to increase the trips and are streamlining the process. I am sure that the situation will soon be addressed,” he added.

Pipeline project in progress

As regards to the residents’ accusations of CMWSSB not laying pipelines in OMR, the official says that only the areas that were newly added to Greater Chennai Corporation in 2011 face this issue.

“Building a pipeline system goes through multiple stages. OMR is one of the newly added areas and in all these areas, project for laying water and sewerage pipelines is already in various stages of execution,” he explains.

He also attributes the delay in execution of infrastructure works to the terrain of the southern part of the city. “The southern part of the city has a rocky structure. This makes it three times difficult to carry out the works when compared with a locality with normal geological structure,” he says and adds that the water board has also acted on a lot of contractor issues which delayed the work further.

However, the official is quick to disagree with the claims that the water tax paid by the residents is of no use. “Tax which is paid to us is nothing but a part of the property tax. It is levied because they have a property in that area. These taxes basically fund a good portion of the infrastructure works carried out to provide necessary services to the people,” he explains and points out that residents who have piped water connection are levied user charges in addition to the water tax they pay.

Assuring that the state government is working towards framing guidelines to regulate the private water tankers in the city, the officer says that CMWSSB is working hard to address the situation and sort it out.

“Chennai is probably the only metropolitan city which does not have a perennial source of water to supply to its residents. So, having a connection or laying a pipeline is not going to be enough. We have to augment water sources in the same manner, which we are doing,” he explains, adding that by 2025, Chennai will have an additional source to provide 650 MLD of water to cater to its residents needs.