CHENNAI: Every morning Nandhini S plays a guessing game — whether water from the handpump will be clean or contaminated. Though her judgement goes wrong on some days, her prayer is the same every day — to receive clean water.
For the past three days, Ramdass Nagar, an informal settlement in Mint (Vallallar Nagar) has been reeking of clogged sewage. Women cook, children play and the harrowing life of residents revolve all around the stench.
Since the manholes are located outside their houses and just beside the handpumps, every time the sewer clogs and is left unattended, water from the handpumps gets contaminated, say the residents.
“The contaminated water comes every alternate day from the same handpump which supplies clean water. The clogged drainage stays unattended for a week,” says 26-year-old Nandhini, a resident. This has been a constant issue for three years now.
Source of water
The only source of water for the 400 economically backward households in the settlement is handpumps, as water tankers cannot come inside the narrow lanes. When the handpumps do not work, some residents walk to the Royapuram dispensing unit, which is 1.5 kilometres away, while others fill water from the Mint graveyard nearby.
“The graveyard has a borewell and the staff member there allows us to fill 10 pots of water compared to the two or three pots we get from the Metro Water dispensing unit,” says 40-year-old Pattu Malliga of
Ramdass Nagar.
The graveyard does not have much use for water as people only wash their feet and hands after cremation, says Malliga. Hence, the generous staff members there provide water for the residents of the settlement.
Ramdass Nagar is one of the worst affected settlements due to the water crisis and poor civic amenities. “How can sewage water and clean water come alternately from the same line?” asks Malliga.
She shares that children are unable to find the difference between the two kinds of water, and drink the contaminated one unknowingly.
“In the past week, at least a dozen children from the settlement have visited Stanley and RSRM hospitals because of illnesses and doctors have said it is due to water,” says Nandhini, who is the mother of a one-year-old. She says she had to pay as much as `3,000 within two days as her child suffered from a serious illness.
CMWSSB unresponsive
Though the Metro Water office is not even 50 metres from the slum, the officials have not been responsive to the plight of the residents.
“When we were laying sewage lines a year back, there must have been a mishap in the underground lines,” says a CMWSSB official.
Though there have been repeated complaints by the residents, the officials have not bothered to inspect the issue until now. “It is a long process to identify the source and repair the pipes. We keep sending staff members to clear the clog temporarily,” says the official.