Village residents prefer pond to piped supply for drinking water needs

With the 1500-odd residents of Eeralancheri village and the adjoining hamlets finding the piped water supply to be saline, they have been relying on the pond for potable water for about three generations now.

Located 40 km from the district on the Chennai national highway, Eeralancheri village and its hamlets, Periakarumbur and Periagramam, complain of a lack of elected local body representatives leading them to rely on the pond nearly a kilometre away in the midst of thorny bushes for their water needs.

So important is the water source that locals have put up a board nearby reading, “Drinking water, do not dirty.”

Though the villagers have piped water supply, residents complain that the water is unfit for consumption. “The water is totally saline and hence cannot used for cooking,” says Sathyavani, a housewife who is a local here. “When we cook food for children using this water, they bring the food back from school untouched and throw it away saying that it is unfit for consumption,” she adds.

“We have been relying on this pond for potable water for three generations as this is the only source. We cannot afford to buy packaged water daily as all are farmers,” Aswini, another local resident, said.

While residents of the village raise a demand to dig a borewell on the bund of the pond for potable water, they rue that they are unsure whom to approach reportedly due to the lack of local body representatives here.

“If officials sink a bore on the bund of the pond, it will ensure easy availability of potable water,” Dinesh, another resident, echoed.

Women-and those men who occasionally come to fetch water from the pond-descend two steps and step into the water gingerly and push the mouth of the vessel into the water to fill it.

These women, however, fear trouble from the many inebriated locals who haunt the spot. They also complain of the discomfort from having to take solace under thorny bushes in the vicinity after a one-kilometre walk to the pond during summer.

When asked about the issue, District Collector SA Raman said, “I have asked the local BDO (Block Development Officer) and the AD (Panchayat) to look into the issue. We are already supplying water to the habitation, but locals feel the pond water is sweeter. Also, only tests will reveal whether water from there can be supplied even if a bore is sunk into it.”