Nirupama Viswanathan By Express News Service CHENNAI: What happens when around 740 children, between the ages of three and 13, use 15 available toilets without adequate supply of water? Although conservancy staff do their job, the odour has become a part of life. The last time Corporation middle school at Korukkupet received water from Metro Water tankers was on Monday. On Wednesday morning, their sump was a quarter full. According to staff, they will have to wait until Monday for the next tanker to arrive. The second sump in the school, constructed a year and a half ago, does not have a connection yet. “It (the toilet) is a little stinky, but we adjust. Our watchman and teachers are doing their best to bring us water,” said Subiksha (name changed), a student of Standard VII. Once the water for the week runs out, the watchman and conservancy staff in the school borrow water from neighbouring houses – seven or eight pots of water from each house. A senior Corporation official said authorities met heads of all schools under the civic body’s control on Monday and Tuesday to gauge the problem and put a strategy in place. “We have coordinated with Metro Water to ensure there is water for our schools. Still, there is a 30-40 per cent gap to be filled. For this, we have already deployed engineers to schools where new borewells are needed and to schools where depth of the borewells need to be increased,” the official said.

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