Drinking water contaminated in Vadapalani for over a week

CHENNAI: For over a week, residents of Palani Andavar koil street, Vadapalani are concerned as sewage mixed with metro water due to pipeline damage in the area. People urged the metro water board to supply drinking water through tanker lorries, however with no respite. Residents rued that despite paying sewage and water tax, they have been getting contaminated water.

"The drinking water supplied through the pipeline and hand pump has been mixed with sewage for 10 days now. The complaint was raised to the complaint cell and concerned area officials of the metro water board, to identify the source of pollution and rectify it immediately. Since no steps were taken we escalated the issue to the higher authority and the official mentioned that due to the ongoing Chennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL) underground work, the sewage pipeline has been damaged, " said C Girikumar, secretary of Parsan Karthik Apartment at Palani Andavar koil street.

The issue was not resolved for more than three days, and in the meantime, the residents cleaned the sump and overhead tanks. Later, the residents in the apartments and several individual residents closed the valve to stop the contaminated water through pipeline. As there was no metro water provided in the area, the residents requested the board to supply drinking water through tankers.

"Though we are not consuming metro water, it has been used for domestic purposes. And not all the residents afford to pay for can water. So, we urged the concerned officials for supply of water through lorries. However, we have neither received the supply of drinking water nor have been informed as to when the supply through pipeline will resume, " said C Subramanian, another resident of Vadapalani.

Even after a week, Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (CMWSSB) have not been able to fix the issue. What is more, the residents have been deprived of water. Even our request to supply water through tankers has not elicited any response. When the CMWSSB collects drinking water and sewage tax every month, is it fair to deny water to the residents? questioned the residents.

A senior CMWSSB official explained that the CMRL clarified that no pipeline has been damaged during the underground work. So, we have commenced work to identify the source of pollution and will be rectified at the earliest.