more-in With the drinking water shortage is looming large in the city due to unprecedented drought the rate of drinking water supplied by private tankers has gone up. According to an estimate, nearly 90 percent of domestic water requirement of the city is being met by the Tiruchi Corporation while private tankers meet the remaining 10 percent. Besides supplying water to most of hotels, restaurants, marriage halls, educational institutions, private tankers supply water to several residential colonies and apartments located in high level areas. There are 150 private tanker lorries in the city. They fetch water from private bore wells at Kondayampettai in Thiruvanaikoil, a Cauvery river bed. Since the water requirement is increasing day by day, the demand for private tanker supply has also doubled over the last three weeks forcing the private suppliers to increase the rate. “There is a huge demand for tanker lorry water supply. But water table has gone down drastically due to severe drought and indiscriminate sand mining in the Cauvery and the Coleroon. However, we try to supply water as much as possible,” says D. Raja, a private tanker lorry supplier in Thiruvanaikoi. According to sources, rate for water supply differs depending upon the areas. For junction and Central bus stand areas, private suppliers charge ? 700 to ? 800 a tank (12,000 litters). It applies only for regular buyers like hotels and restaurants. However, they charge ? 1,000 from occasional buyers. It was ? 800 to ? 900 till January. “There is no change in rate for regular buyers. However, we follow flexible approach in charging from occasional buyers. Some suppliers charge more from occasional customers as they have to pay for diesel, driver, maintenance of borewells and vehicle,” says Mr. Raja. “Private suppliers demand ? 200 more than what we pay for one load. A few apartments have yielded to their demand. However, we have managed to retain the rate on the contention that we buy water regularly,” says M. Natarajan, an apartment dweller on V.O.C Road in Cantonment. Borewell and tanker lorry owners said that expenses had gone up since January. Since the water table had gone down in the Cauvery river bed, the time to fill a tank had gone up to 25 from 15 minutes thereby increasing electricity charges.

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