COIMBATORE: "I am on the wrong side of K.K. Pudur," says J. Dasgupta, a remark that echoes the sentiments of many residents in the Kavundampalayam Municipal limits. Had his house been a few metres into the Coimbatore Corporation area, his family will have enough reason to cheer over the surplus water in the Siruvani Dam.

While a part of K.K. Pudur is lucky to be under the Corporation and thereby enjoy the fruits of good monsoon, the unlucky other part completes the picture of a paradox- scarcity amid abundance.

Poor storage

Kavundampalayam has close to 2,000 drinking water connections waitlisted for more than four years because of poor storage in the dam since 2000. The monsoons' munificence since the summer of 2004 has not altered the situation in any way. The struggle for water continues as population rises but the allocation to the municipality remains meagre.

The situation is not different for Vadavalli and Veerakeralam, suburbs west of the city and also Kurichi and Kuniamuthur south of it.

Mr. Dasgupta, a resident of a colony of 15 independent houses on Kovilmedu Road, says he and the other residents have not been getting Siruvani water connections for the last two years despite paying the deposit.

Assembly elections

"We met the municipal officials several times and even during the recent Assembly elections, we were promised water connections by March. But, nothing has happened so far," he says.

"We have not had Siruvani supply for the last 11 days," complains S.S. Ramakrishnan of Podanur who maintains a date-wise and time-wise register of supply since 1994.

"The municipality (Kurichi) said there was a problem in the pipeline. But, even otherwise, Siruvani water is supplied only once in seven or eight days."

Mr. Ramakrishnan points out that the houses in Kurichi are supplied only 75 to 85 litres per capita per day (lpcd), far below the World Health Organisation norms of 110 lpcd.

Various needs

While this is the case with most of the suburbs dependent on the Siruvani scheme, the Corporation says the combined supply from Siruvani and Pilloor dams provide anywhere between 130 lpcd and 150 lpcd.

The total drawal from the Siruvani Dam when it is full is 101 mld. Out of this, 87 mld is supplied one half of the city. A conservative estimate is that half of the 13 lakh population in the city drinks, cooks and sometimes even washes clothes, cars and nurses the gardens with Siruvani water.

Allocation

Of the balance amount of water, close to 10 mld is provided to municipalities, special panchayats and village panchayats served by the scheme. The allocation made in the early Nineties to these local bodies is found hugely inadequate given the rise in population over the years.

Disillusionment has gripped the suburbs and is evident in Mr. Dasgupta's observation: "Siruvani overflow will come year after year, but our fate will continue unchanged."

Faster growth

During his visit here on July 1, the Local Administration Minister, M.K. Stalin, said the Tamil Nadu Water Supply and Drainage Board had been asked to supply one million litre a day of additional drinking water to Kavundampalayam that is witnessing a faster growth than the other suburbs.

A resolution was passed much earlier in the Corporation Council that a similar quantity from the city's share could be provided to Kavundampalayam at Rs.4.50 per 1,000 litres.

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