CHENNAI: Despite the historic rains that lashed the city just three months ago, climatologists say Chennai might face water scarcity this summer, as the authorities failed to save the huge quantity of rainwater.
Speaking at a conference organised by Anna University here on Saturday, experts from the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) and Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) warned that if water management facilities were not improved and rains failed, the district would face a drought next year. “Instead of preserving water bodies, buildings were constructed on them that precluded recharge of the ground water,” said S Raghavan, former deputy director of meteorology.
Professor V Rajamani of JNU said the city had already built artificial structures at the surface of water bodies and used up stored water at the subsurface level, not providing an opportunity for ground water recharge, while the rise in temperature led to evaporation loss.