Long dry spell leaves even cool Ooty struggling for water

COIMBATORE: With water levels depleting in reservoirs supplying potable water to Ooty, the hill town may run out of water if the dry spell continues longer.

Residents complain that several areas under Udhagamandalam municipality now receive piped water only once in three days as against alternate days due to severe shortage.

Of the total 36 wards with 27, 636 houses under the municipality limits, water is supplied on alternative days in 23 wards, once in three days in 12 wards and once in six days for one ward alone.

As both the southwest and northeast monsoons have failed, the Parson’s Valley, which mainly caters to drinking water requirements of 110,540 people in Udhagamandalam, has a drastically low storage of less than 15 feet as against its full capacity of 50 feet.

Of this, silt has been accumulated for up to five feet, further reducing its water-holding capacity. Because of the scorching summer, almost 1.5 inches of water from the dam gets vapourised every two weeks, say officials.

Currently, 11.41 MLD of water is pumped from this reservoir daily for drinking water requirements and another 0.45 MLD is managed through local water sources. In a similar scenario, water storage in other reservoirs like Parson’s Valley, Marlimund, Tiger Hill and Gorishola has also gone down drastically in the hills.

To overcome the drinking water shortage this summer, work has been taken up to desilt and deepen 27 wells in the town area.

“Of them, work has been finished in 20 wells, while works are underway in the remaining seven wells. Efforts have been taken to supply 0.18 MLD of water through five water tankers hired on rent in elevated regions. With the current storage position in Parsons Valley reservoir, an uninterrupted water supply could be made for over 80 days. Water could also be extracted for two more months from the dead storage level of five feet and water surrounding the infiltration well,” said P Egaraj, Commissioner of Udhagamandalam Municipality.

The municipality authorities however hope that the situation may improve if rains arrive.

“The cottages and resorts, which received water on alternative days, are now getting water once every three days. Currently, it's manageable but may get worse if there are no rains. If required, then cottage owners purchase water from tankers. Almost ten per cent of cottages are dependent on tankers, who charge Rs 1,200 for one load of 7,000 litres,” said AS Sadiq Ali, president of Ooty Cottage Owners Association.