With just 60cm water left in the Siruvani dam, 28 wards in the city stare at an immediate water crisis. Coimbatore Corporation authorities said that this much water is sufficient for just the next six days.
If the south west monsoon fails, the TWAD board officials said they would have to dig canals to withdraw more water. But even that can salvage the water shortage just about till June 6. The civic body has not even held a meeting to discuss the water situation since the elections.
The Siruvani dam has a total water storage depth of 15.10m, of which the civic body taps 87MLD of water, i.e 10cm water, daily. But during summers, the officials said they only draw 40-60 MLD of water.
"Currently, we only draw 5cm of water daily. Even if we draw just 17-30 MLD daily, we can use the water from Siruvani only till May 30," said an official.
Officials said that this year, the dam received only 40mm rain in the summer. Last summer, there was 300mm rainfall in the dam.
A similar situation prevailed in 2012-2013, when the officials drew 17MLD water from the dead storage and Kerala government threatened to seal the pipeline under the dead storage. Officials said that even this year, Kerala government would not allow them to tap water from the dead storage. But the canals dug up in the nearby forest would help them get about 17 MLD to last at least three days.
"Three weeks back, we met TWAD officials and it was decided that the board would supply Pillur water to meet the demand. But we are hopeful that such a situation will not arise, as rain is predicted in the first week of June," said an official.
Civic authorities said water trucks would continue to supply water and they would ensure that there would not be a crisis as they can rely on Pillur for water supply.
The civic body generally draws 110-115 MLD from Pillur-II scheme, 30 MLD from Pillur-I, 98 MLD from Siruvani, 11 MLD from Bhavani scheme and 7.5MLD from Aliyar on a daily basis.
If the south west monsoon fails, the TWAD board officials said they would have to dig canals to withdraw more water. But even that can salvage the water shortage just about till June 6. The civic body has not even held a meeting to discuss the water situation since the elections.
The Siruvani dam has a total water storage depth of 15.10m, of which the civic body taps 87MLD of water, i.e 10cm water, daily. But during summers, the officials said they only draw 40-60 MLD of water.
"Currently, we only draw 5cm of water daily. Even if we draw just 17-30 MLD daily, we can use the water from Siruvani only till May 30," said an official.
Officials said that this year, the dam received only 40mm rain in the summer. Last summer, there was 300mm rainfall in the dam.
A similar situation prevailed in 2012-2013, when the officials drew 17MLD water from the dead storage and Kerala government threatened to seal the pipeline under the dead storage. Officials said that even this year, Kerala government would not allow them to tap water from the dead storage. But the canals dug up in the nearby forest would help them get about 17 MLD to last at least three days.
"Three weeks back, we met TWAD officials and it was decided that the board would supply Pillur water to meet the demand. But we are hopeful that such a situation will not arise, as rain is predicted in the first week of June," said an official.
Civic authorities said water trucks would continue to supply water and they would ensure that there would not be a crisis as they can rely on Pillur for water supply.
The civic body generally draws 110-115 MLD from Pillur-II scheme, 30 MLD from Pillur-I, 98 MLD from Siruvani, 11 MLD from Bhavani scheme and 7.5MLD from Aliyar on a daily basis.