Residents block Kanchi Road near Girivalam Path in Tiruvannamalai demanding resumption of water supply

As parched lakes and ponds turned wells and borewells dry, residents of Adaiyur village, mostly women, blocked Kanchi Main Road near Arunachaleswar temple in Tiruvannamalai on Thursday, demanding immediate resumption of water supply for household consumption.

Residents said the village forms a part of Tiruvannamalai Corporation that comprises 39 wards within its limits. The settlements in the village are located along the Girivalam path in a low-lying area. Most of the houses in the village are tail-end areas where the water supply has been irregular for many months. “As groundwater in the area is salty, we depend on water provided by the civic body for consumption. The Corporation should restore the water supply in the area,” said N. Suganthi, a resident.

With soaring temperatures in recent weeks, water supply to households, including street corner tanks, has not reached the tail-end areas on the Girivalam path. Among residential colonies, Adaiyur village is densely populated, with more than 300 families.

Irregular supply of water has forced residents walk to surrounding wards to fetch a few pots of water every day. It has resulted in frequent quarrels with residents of those wards, as demand for water supplied by the Corporation is high.

Against this backdrop, residents of Adaiyur village blocked the key stretch near the Girivalam path around 9 a.m. It affected traffic on the route for more than an hour. The agitated residents dispersed peacefully after assurance from civic officials that water supply will be resumed.

Corporation officials said that affected households are in tail end areas where the existing Over Head Tank (OHT) is at least one kilometre away from the point of supply. As a result, consumers around the tank area were able to tap more water due to close proximity to the tank. Once volume of stored water in the tank reduced, flow to tail-end areas slowed down, affecting water distribution.

Following the protest, civic officials said that the existing 5 HP motor pump set has been replaced with 7.5 HP to draw more water from the existing borewell, which is around 300 ft in depth. Additionally, the Corporation has started to drill additional borewells near the water tank to ensure water supply in tail end areas.

Corporation officials said that once a new borewell is laid, consumers along the Girivalam path will get regular water supply. At present, Corporation gets 21.50 MLD (million litres per day) as against demand of 23 MLD from its key water source in Sathanur dam, 24 kms away from the town.