THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: With no pre-monsoon showers in the horizon and the South West Monsoon expected to be below normal this season, the state capital is staring at a looming water crisis, with reservoir levels fast depleting at Peppara dam — the key reservoir supplying water to the city. The storage at Peppara is fast dwindling with the current water levels hitting 98.75 metres on Tuesday.
The full reservoir level is 107.5 metres. According to Kerala Water Authority (KWA), sustaining supply beyond mid-May will be extremely difficult with no crucial pre-monsoon showers expected in the next two weeks.
KWA draws around 400 mld per day to meet the demand of the capital city, which has around 3.5 lakh connections which includes both domestic and commercial connections.
Despite ensuring more than 400 mld of treated water, the city continues to struggle with shortages. Interestingly, out of the 400 mld, around 40 percent of water - 160 mld - accounts for non-revenue water which is lost from the distribution network either through leaks, theft or metering inaccuracies or age-old pipelines.
An official said with only around 10 lakh population the city actually requires only around 260 mld to 300 mld. “Non-revenue water loss is massive and upgrading the age-old distribution system is the only way to plug this. We have been talking about this for years but no measures have been implemented to address this issue.
We are planning for new water treatment plants instead of addressing this critical issue,” the official said. The official said that increasing the production will only lead to higher leakages as the majority of the distribution networks are around 40 years old.
With the imminent threat of a water crisis looming large, the KWA is planning to impose restrictions on giving new connections, zonal regulations and water for construction activities. “Pre-monsoon showers are critical for us to sustain through the summer days. Now we have no other way but to bring in regulations to handle the crisis,” said a top official of KWA.
It’s been seven years since the KWA has been trying to raise the level of Peppara reservoir by 3 metres and use the dam in its full capacity to avoid such a crisis. Apart from some serious discussions, the proposal didn’t progress. Officials said the water levels cannot be raised without the permission of the forest department. “We need the approval from the Union government to implement this. If the levels are raised, the city will be able to get through the summer days without any crisis,” said the official.
Meanwhile, the proposal to set up a water treatment plant at Neyyar Dam continues to remain on paper.
Every drop counts
Total production: Over 400mld
Non-revenue water losses: 160mld
Total connections: 3.5 lakh
Reservoir water levels at Peppara plunges to 98.75 metres
The storage can sustain only till mid-May
No pre-monsoon showers in the horizon until this month end