Tamil Nadu is suffering the worst drought in 140 years. Chennai is getting drinking water from Neyveli and Thiruvallur
Chennai | Reported by J Sam Daniel Stalin, Edited by Anindita Sanyal | Updated: June 26, 2017 14:34 IST

Chennai: Chennai is facing an acute crisis of drinking water as all four lakes around the city have dried up, the local authorities have said. Tamil Nadu is witnessing the worst drought in 140 years. The city requires 830 million litres of water a day, but the supply has halved over the last few days, say water supply officials.

There is no daily supply of drinking water in Chennai as the four main reservoirs — Poondi, Red Hills, Cholavaram and Chembarambakkam are dry.

In many areas, piped water is being supplied only once in three days. The authorities have deployed 300 water tankers in the city.

The Veeranam lake in Neyveli, a town more than 200 km away, from where Chennai receives supply through a huge pipeline is dry too. The authorities, however, are tapping other resources in the area to pump 90 million litres a day to Chennai through the same pipeline.

“Water is also coming in from stone quarries in Kancheeputam and Thiruvallur, besides two desalination plants in the city,” a senior water supply official said.

The groundwater in Chennai and its surrounding areas is replenished…

(LINK)