We attempt to answer both these questions here in this article based on information from Coimbatore Corporation Commissioner J. Shravan Kumar.
Coimbatore: People from many areas of the Coimbatore Corporation have raised complaints that they experience inordinately elongated intervals in water supply. What used to be 4-5 day water disbursement areas are now supplied water once in 8-10 days with some areas not receiving water for the last 18 days.
What is the issue that’s affecting water supply and is it a cause for long term panic? We attempt to answer both these questions here in this article based on information from Coimbatore Corporation Commissioner J. Shravan Kumar.
There are two main water sources for Coimbatore; the famed Siruvani Dam and the Pillur Dam water combined provide 267 MLD. Of this, the Siruvani dam water contributes roughly one-third of the supply. The corporation has said that due to the erratic monsoon rainfall in the catchment areas of Siruvani, the TWAD has decided to be cautious with the water supply now until the rainfall picks up, so that it would not have to struggle if the monsoon fails in Siruvani.
Since the water supply to Coimbatore depends considerably on the water inflow into the Siruvani dam, the TWAD has decided to limit supply until now. This has resulted in the decreaseof frequency in water supply in areas coming under the Corporation. To counter this, the CCMC has come up with solutions like interlinking water from Pillur with that of Siruvani water in some areas where only Siruvani water is being supplied.
As of today, the water supply to Coimbatore has been increased more than the previous days based on the request by the Corporation Commissioner. This should ease more areas into getting water supply starting today. The Commissioner has also urgently requested TWAD to increase the water flow to Coimbatore city in the days to come.
Based on weather reports, the administration anticipates more rainfall to fill the dam in the next few days. If this happens, the shortage of water that’s affecting the supply is bound to ease off. The Commissioner has also assured that “all measures are being taken to address this shortage in water resources from Siruvani but we are right now constrained by the lack of rainfall. I request people to be patient and support the measures taken during this phase where we are addressing the need in various ways.”