Even money can’t buy water in posh Chennai neighbourhoods 

At 5 am every day, A Nagamma waits on the main road, which is a 10-minute walk from her house in a settlement in Besant Nagar, for the water tanker to arrive.
With private tankers charging `4,000-`5,000, water has become a premium resource even for ‘privileged’ pockets in the city
With private tankers charging `4,000-`5,000, water has become a premium resource even for ‘privileged’ pockets in the city

CHENNAI: At 5 am every day, A Nagamma waits on the main road, which is a 10-minute walk from her house in a settlement in Besant Nagar, for the water tanker to arrive. On some days she is fortunate enough to push her way through and get water for her household, but on other days, she goes back home without a drop — either because the tanker failed to arrive or because she was too far behind in the queue. Not too far away, Anisha Narayan*, a resident of Gandhi Nagar in Adyar waits in her air-conditioned living room for private tankers to arrive and quench the thirst of her apartment complex.

Posh problems
“The last few months have been very tough,” said Narayan. “The other day, my son was having a shower and the water in the taps ran out. So we had to use some drinking water to remove the soap from his face and body. My maid lives close by and we realised that our situation is not very different when it comes to access to water.

Every morning when she comes home, we don’t say good morning anymore. The first question we ask is whether we have water at home! Earlier, I used to help her out and give her some water to take back home but now with private tankers coming as and when they please, it is getting harder to do that. We are storing water in buckets, just to be on the safe side.” 

(Tanker waiting to supply water at Boat
Club Road and Kottur Gardens  Martin Louis

In areas that are considered ‘posh’, it is a common notion that water would be abundantly available. Residents in these areas, however, share emphatically about how flawed this perception is. They are concerned about the premium that needs to be paid to private tankers to bring the valued resource to their doorsteps. 

“Sure, we have the money to pay but water in itself is getting hard to come by this year,” said Supriya Chandrasekaran*, a resident of Boat Club Road. “It is a very worrying prospect. The residents association has been issuing circular urging people to use water judiciously. We have also been told that the swimming pool in our apartment may have to be drained out if the problem persists. We may not be waiting in queues on the road but we are paying double and sometimes even triple the amount that we earlier used to pay for tankers. It is definitely pinching us.” Metro water tankers cost about Rs 800 for 9,000 litres of water, but private ones have been charging anywhere between Rs 4,000-Rs 5,000. 

Wake-up call 
Even in areas where eminent personalities like the former chief minister J Jayalalithaa or the late DMK supremo, M Karunanidhi stayed in the heart of the city are also facing issues. “The last month has been nothing short of a nightmare,” said a resident of a gated community in Poes Garden who did not wish to be named. “We have all been so used to having no troubles with water that this year was a rude shock. It was a wake-up call. Money makes one believe that they are invincible.

But suddenly you realise that you may have money but if there is no water itself, what is it that you are going to buy? At home, we have stopped using the shower and have started having a bucket bath because it is easier to measure exactly how much water is being consumed. Wherever possible, we are also trying to reuse water.” 

Store and use 
A new issue that seems to be plaguing a number of apartment complexes is rationing of water. 
“The owner of the apartment has access to the water valves,” said a resident of a small apartment in RK Salai, on condition of anonymity. “What he is doing is that he is shutting off the valves, restricting the flow to certain households so as to ensure that he and his friends get uninterrupted water supply while the rest of us suffer and manage with what is sent our way. We cannot even challenge him of the same because he will ask us to leave and here at least, there is some water. Other places are worse off.” 

Even those residing in or operating commercial establishments in areas like Khader Nawaz Khan Road and Rutland Gate were vocal about how it was getting hard to manage day to day activities owing to the heavy dependence on private tankers for water. 

“The water tanker did not arrive in our apartment complex for almost three days and it was a havoc,” said the resident of a gated community in Nungambakkam. “I have been living here for over five years and this is the first time that the situation has been so bad. My family and I shifted to my parents’ house in Uthandi because they are better off as they are using a borewell. If the situation does not improve, I think I will have to look at moving to some place where the water condition is better.” 
*Names changed on request

Related Stories

No stories found.
The New Indian Express
www.newindianexpress.com