Chennai: Metrowater to study groundwater withdrawal

CHENNAI: Metrowater will soon hire a private agency to find out how much groundwater is being drawn in various parts of the city. It will also find out the number of open wells and borewells in the city and the groundwater levels in different areas. This is because hardly anyone responded when it asked house-owners to register their wells with it.
Metrowater had in October said residents with borewells or open wells should fill a form at their area office by November
10.Later this deadline was extended to November 25.
A senior Metrowater official said even after the second deadline was set, only 5,000 of 8.75 lakh households submitted details to Metrowater. So it was decided to collect data on not just borewells and open wells, but to assess how much water was being drawn and the groundwater availability in various parts of the city, said the official.
This would help Metrowater optimise water supply. For example, in areas where groundwater availability was low, Metrowater can increase the piped supply. And it could reduce piped supply to areas where groundwater was plentiful. The data would especially come in handy for water managers during shortages like what the city experienced between January and October this year.
A private agency would take up the study, which will include geo-coding using latitude and longitude, to cover individual buildings, apartment complexes, gated communities, hospitals, schools, colleges, malls and companies.
A proposal has been readied and work will start as soon as the agency is chosen. “We hope to start the enumeration by January,” the Metrowater offical said. So far there has been no study on groundwater drawal in the city.
Even while the enumeration is in progress, those in the field will audit rainwater harvesting structures in each building to encourage residents to avoid water run-off, which, in turn, will improve the groundwater table in the residential locality, he added.