Chennai: It would be funny if it weren’t so serious. The Nanmangalam lake and farmlands supply water to the rest of the city / suburbs, but the funny part – serious, if you like it – is that the people of Nanmangalam themselves are buying water from these tankers. That is a vicious cycle and is the result of a failed monsoon and rampant drawing of water by private parties.
Nanmangalam on the outskirts of Chennai is well-known for abundant availability of groundwater. But the level has gone down drastically these days.
Farmers, while receiving free electricity from the government strictly for agricultural purpose, sell the water to private parties who in turn sell it to residents of other localities like Nanganallur, Madipakkam, Velacheri, Keelkattalai, Pallavaram, Chrompet and Nemilichery, etc.
Sababadhy, who supplies water from Nanmangalam to other areas, justifies his trade and philosophically said, “We fetch water from borewells in the farmlands in and around Nanmangalam. If we stop supplying water, its impact on city-dwellers will be terrible. This is the only source of water for a large part of the population. Though officials and a few people oppose this, there are other people who support us. We are not using this for ourselves. We supply it to people who are in need of the resource.”
This has been going on for more than 6-7 years. Several complaints have been made by residents welfare associations to the Panchayat office, tahsildar and village administrative officer. Still the activity continues.
Local shepherds and pavement-dwellers, who have been residing near the Nanmangalam lake for more than 25 years, say that every day, they see a number of tankers fetching water from the lake.
They added that this has been happening for more than a decade.
Muruganandham, 66, a local shopkeeper, said every day, at least 25 to 30 tankers fetch water from the lake and each lorry’s capacity is 8,000 to 12,000 litres.
The illegal water supply also has a lot of impact on the residents. “We moved to Nanmangalam from the city limits mainly because it had abundant water. Now, it is not the case. The groundwater level has gone down. Six years ago, water was available 10 feet below the ground and now water is available only at 70 to 100 feet,” said Ramprasadh Ramakrishnan. The pity of it is that they have to depend on the same tankers that supply the water from their lake to others, for water now.
He added grimly, “There are four or five mineral water plants in the locality who use enormous amounts of groundwater for their business. In addition, water from this area is being supplied to neighbouring areas. All this has contributed to the current situation.”
K Gajendhran, proprietor of a mineral water plant in the locality, said, “We are having a tough time, of late. There was no rain for the past two years and we have to share the water resource with the farmlands nearby and now there is no water under the ground. There are many reasons for this crisis and the major reasons are tankers that supply water to other areas, and increasing population. People have started buying houses in Nanmangalam because the price is low and there is a lot of groundwater. With increasing population, the water level has dipped. And now, I have to go fetch water from places like Mappedu to keep my business running.”
South Chennai Private Water Lorry Owners Association, Tamilnadu head, Nijalingam, said, “There are around 4,500 water lorries in Chennai registered with the association. Thousands of people are dependent on us. We have pressure from both ends, the government and people. On the one side, the government wants us to stop this, on the other, the public want us to provide them water. Even if we go on strike for a day or two, huge pressure mounts on us. The only solution is the government should leave this in the hands of the private sector.”
When News Today contacted officials from the local Panchayat office, they did not respond.