Water shortage around places and metro tankers waste water

Out of nowhere I suddenly felt water sprinkles on my hand. Where from the water could have come? It was from the metro water lorry that had its lid open. Apparently due to the bad condition of the roads or even a slight shake trembles the water inside and it rode splashing water all through its way. I am afraid I had all chances to get fully drenched if I had driven a motorbike near the lorry. Neither the pipe was tightly closed. It leaked water in all possible ways. On top of all this the quotes on the lorry read "wise usage of water is the need of the hour" and "save water".

The trail of water that water tankers leave behind on the road may not seem like much, but it adds up to an enormous amount of precious liquid lost daily.

Around 20,000 litres of water from tankers is wasted during transit every day due to leakages and spillages even as people across the city struggle to cope with dry borewells and long waiting periods for water tankers.

Every time a water lorry passes by or brakes, it leaves telltale signs. Water spills from the open lid and the outlet valve of the lorry, sometimes drenching motorcyclists passing by. On an average, each tanker makes 10 trips a day. Hence, hundreds of litres go down the drain every day. Going by World Health Organisation norms, every 145 litres lost could cater for one person.

Roads near filling stations at Adyar, Valluvar Kottam and K.K. Nagar are always slushy and can hardly be used, residents complain and many other places too. The Lake Area near Valluvar Kottam has three schools but the roads, left slushy by water Lorries, are difficult for the students to walk on, say the residents.

It is usually the Metro water lorry that leaves such trail, ``Private Lorrie are well-maintained because they are accountable for any wastage,’’ ``People are not aware of the loss and have no means for checking leakage. They simply accept water that is supplied to them by Metro water since it is the only source for them,'' said a corporation official.

Tanker drivers say at least 100 liters of water is wasted during transportation every time due to cheap valves and improper sealing while the Water Board authorities claim all their tankers are thoroughly inspected and in good condition.

A driver of a Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply said, "We try our best to drive carefully to minimize spillage but we cannot help the leaking valve at the back. Around 100 to 200 liters of water is lost on every trip we make. An extra 50 liters is wasted if there are spillages from the opening on the top of the tanker. It is well known that only metro tankers that is poorly maintained leaves water trails causing inconvenience to residents and most importantly wasting water enormously. But Chennai has massive metro water problem currently.