CHENNAI: While most areas are entirely dependent on public authorities for water supply, a section of Thirumullavoyal is getting steady supply every day thanks to the efforts of its residents.
For the past two months, the North Thirumullavoyal Village Association has been supplying water from a 100-ft borewell to 800 families. At the cost of Rs 4 lakh they laid pipes for a one-km distance covering 12 streets. This, in turn, is connected to around 100 taps, one for every four house.
Association members said their main aim was to help residents tide over the water crisis and also find a permanent solution to water shortage. “We wanted to cover streets which were dependent only on tankers. Groundwater level has always been low in this area for decades. Hence this was done as a permanent solution and not just because of the current shortage,” said TR Mullaignanam, president of the association.
Only parts of Thirumullavoyal such as Thiruvalluvar Nagar, SP Nagar and Anna Street are connected to the erstwhile Avadi Municipality’s water supply scheme. Other parts did not have this facility and hence were dependent on tankers. This has now changed due to the timely project.
“Food made with the water provided by water tankers used to go bad while cooking. And we had to spend nearly `50 every day to get water from them. But now after this new arrangement, I can fill good quality water from plastic pipes right outside my house. This is indeed a blessing for us,” said Shanthi, a resident of South Mada Street in North Thirumullavoyal which is located between Avadi and Ambattur.
By next week, another borewell will be installed at the cost of Rs 1.5 lakh. Members said that the entire cost of this project was funded by sponsors. “The borewell we are drawing water from was previously installed by the then Avadi Municipality 10 years ago. We repaired it recently using the association’s funds,” said C Rajasekhar, secretary.
All four Mada streets, Kullakarai Street, Palli Vinayagar Kovil Street, Sannidhi Vinayagar Kovil Street and Vaani Vinayagar Kovil street are among the 12 streets connected to this supply system.