Kumari Palany & Co

Groundwater withdrawal in various parts of Chennai to be studied by MWD

Posted on: 07/Dec/2019 9:33:58 AM
To know about the quantity of groundwater that is being drawn in various parts of the Chennai city, Metro Water Department of MWD would be hiring a private agency.

It is important to mention that MWD would also be involved in finding the number of open wells and bore wells in Chennai plus the groundwater levels in various places in Chennai. It must be noted that there has been no response from the people when MWD asked the house owners to register their wells with the department. In the month of October, MWD asked the residents having bore wells and open wells to get registered by filling up the form at their area office by 10th of November. This date was then extended to 25th November is known.

The surprising piece of information is out of a total of 8.75 lakh households just 5000 households submitted details to the MWD even after the second deadline was set.

It was pointed out by the MWD official that the department had decided to collect details of not only the bore wells and open wells but also to access the amount of water that was drawn and the availability of groundwater in various places in Chennai for optimization.

The point is in those places in Chennai where the groundwater availability is low MWD would increase the piped water supply. In the same way, MWD would reduce the piped water supply to those areas where the groundwater availability is high. From January to October in 2019, Chennai experienced water shortage and data from MWD would be handy for the water managers during the times of water shortage.

Important information is private agency would take up the study work and it would include geocoding using latitude and longitude to cover individual buildings, apartment complexes, gated communities, hospitals, schools, colleges, malls and companies etc. The work would begin once the private agency gets chosen by the MWD and a proposal is getting readied now.  The official of MWD mentioned that by the month of January enumeration might begin. It must be taken into account that till now there has been no study carried out about the withdrawal of groundwater in Chennai.

It is now said that even when the enumeration is going on the auditing of RWH structures in each building would be done by those in the field. The purpose would be to encourage the residents to avoid run-offs that would improve the groundwater table in the residential areas.