Chennai city is facing a huge crisis of drinking water as all four lakes around the city have dried up. Tamil Nadu is witnessing the worst drought in 140 years.
The city requires 830 million litres of water a day, but the supply has halved over the last few days, say water supply officials.
There is no daily supply of drinking water in Chennai as the four main reservoirs — Poondi, Red Hills, Cholavaram and Chembarambakkam are dry.
In many areas, piped water is being supplied only once in three days. The authorities have deployed 300 water tankers in the city.
The groundwater and its surrounding areas are filled by Puzhal, Sholavaram, Kaliveli, Pulicat and Maduranthakam lakes, all located within a 60-km radius of the city. In 2015, the lakes had overflowed due to unseasonal rains, causing devastating floods in Chennai.
There are thousands of water bodies in Chennai and its neighbouring districts.
Green activists say had these water bodies been properly maintained, Chennai would never have suffered from the water crisis. They blame rapid urbanisation for the lack of upkeep of these water bodies.
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