THOOTHUKUDI: Addressing the issue of water scarcity in and around Kovilpatti will be of paramount importance to the contestants in the ensuing local body elections here. All eyes are focused on the completion of the second drinking water project.
The severity of the issue may be gauged from the fact that residents of Kovilpatti Municipality get four to five potables of water once in 23 days and the rural people get three potables in a week. Cashing in on the demand, water transporters have hiked the rates, currently charging Rs 5 for a pot of domestic water and Rs 10 for a pot of drinking water in the municipal and rural parts around Kovilpatti. Kovilpatti, which forms the north-western part of the Thoothukudi district, has parched lands and minimal water resources. Currently, water is supplied from the Seevalaperi drinking water scheme established in 1976, to a population of over 30,000 in the 22 wards of the municipality. “The population has now multiplied more three-folds, touching nearly one lakh,” said one of the residents.
According to sources in the municipality, the water supply has now dropped to 65 litres a person as against 90 litres, according to the old drinking system. Residents attribute the scarcity to the incomplete second pipeline scheme. Sankaralingam, president of Fifth Pillar Movement, said, “Had the second Seevalaperi drinking water pipeline project been started by 2006, the water scarcity could have been avoided. Instead, the project was launched years later. It was started in 2012 but was cancelled in 2014. It was revived with a new contractor in January 2016.”
The residents are fervently hoping that it will be successfully concluded this time. To address the water scarcity issues, the Kovilpatti Municipality had devised the second drinking water pipeline scheme at an estimated cost of Rs 81.82 crore, which would bring Tamirabarini water from Seevalaperi in Tirunelveli district.