THOOTHUKUDI: In Punnakayal, a village of 7,000 residents where one in two households has a person working as a seafarer, one is compelled to wait for a regular supply of clean water for the last five years, due to the delay in the implementation of a water supply scheme, despite funds having been allocated already. The civic body has now expedited augmentation works after the residents complained of glitches in the distribution system.
Over the last six years, the state and union governments allocated nearly Rs 2 crore for the scheme, with the National Union of Seafarers of India (NUSI) contributing another Rs 1.02 crore. Yet, the pipelines laid down under the Jal Jeevan Mission run dry, alleged residents.
The Punnakayal panchayat, housing nearly 2,300 families, is located near the estuary of Thamirabarani river. As the groundwater turned extremely saline, the residents rely on freshwater for both drinking and domestic purposes. With water scarcity being a year-long issue, every household stores water in 200-litre and 500-litre high-density polyethylene (HDPE) barrels, they said. Further, the residents alleged that potable water is being supplied once every 30-40 days, forcing them to stockpile.
In addition, issues related to water pressure have also been plaguing the existing distribution system. One of the residents said water from an overhead tank (OHT) is drawn using a 2.5-inch pipeline, feeding into the 4.5-inch-wide underground lines, and finally into the 0.75-inch-wide pipelines used for the house service connections, thereby resulting in a loss in water pressure.
According to officials, the TWAD supplies an average of six lakh litres of water every day, and the civic body distributes it through six OHTs with various capacities. Since 2019, the district administration has provided 2,000 new house service connections under the Jal Jeevan Mission. However, with no water supply, nearly half the connections were damaged and were recently replaced at Rs 25 lakh, said sources.
A local body official acknowledged the faults in the distribution system and said they are fixing multiple valves to maintain water pressure. Village Managing Committee (Oor Nirvaga Committee) president Kulanthai Machado told TNIE that the underground pipeline network, laid 40 years ago, leaks badly. Efforts to address water pressure might not fix the issue unless the underground pipes are replaced, he added.
Another official, on condition of anonymity, told TNIE that the augmentation works have been expedited. The water service connections of 700 houses linked to two OHTs have been repaired, reducing the supply interval to 21 days from 30, added the official.