Chennai Is Running Out of Water, Impacting 4.6 Million People

Chennai, the sixth-largest city in India is running out of water for its nearly 4.6 million residents as four of the city’s reservoirs are nearly dry due to a heat wave and drought. Many people are reported to have been waiting hours in line for water being provided through government tankers.

The water crisis is being felt throughout India—at least 550 people were reportedly arrested Wednesday during protests in Coimbatore, about 300 miles southwest of Chennai, alleging negligence by the municipal government. Some political parties are calling on more protests.

Having gone without a single drop of rain for about 200 days at a stretch, Chennai finally got some rain on Thursday. But this is way too little, and way too late for a city experiencing its worst water crisis in 30 years, and headed to becoming a Zero City.

Water is rationed in residential apartments and malls are asking their water-intensive outlets to either take a break or use the blue gold frugally.

Pipe water supply to homes is not even 10% of what it used to be, and wait for a Metrowater tanker is as much as three to four weeks now. One does not know where the next pot of water will come from. It is that bad.

Water is one of the vital substances that keep human cities running smoothly; without it, many public services in Chennai, including hotels and restaurants, have had to shut down completely.

Air conditioning has been turned off in public spaces, staff are being sent home, hospitals are struggling, and every day residents must line up for hours in the searing sun, waiting for government trucks of water to be brought in from outer areas of the state.

Those who can afford it rely on private water tankers, although these are mostly inaccessible for the 820,000 people who live in the city’s slums.

The crisis may have initially erupted in Chennai, but experts suggest it’s bound to pop up all over the country if current water strategies don’t change. Today, around 600 million people in India face high to extreme water stress, and only about a quarter of all households have access to drinking water in the home.

Last year, a report from an Indian government think-tank warned that by 2020, 21 Indian cities, including Delhi and Bangalore, are likely to run out of groundwater, impacting both food and water security for a further one hundred million people.