KOCHI: For city residents, the coming days are not that promising at least when it comes to supply of drinking water. As summer intensifies, the city has started facing shortage in drinking water supply.Water shortage has forced many residents’ associations to issue warnings asking people to use water judiciously. Receding groundwater levels have also added to the woes of citizens.All Kerala apartment owners’ apex association president V K Shankarankutty said that residents need to be more cautious while using water.“We could not depend on Kerala Water Authority (KWA). Their supply is irregular. Most apartments are depending on water supplied by tanker trucks,” said Shankarankutty.Citing an incident that happened at JM Manor, an apartment complex at Kaloor, early this week, Shankarankutty said: “During morning hours, a tanker with 12,000-litre capacity filled the sumps in the building. But, the entire water got drained out by evening. Later, it was found a couple had left the taps in their flat open.”Many wells and borewells have gone dry and people are hesitant to draw water from deep wells, he added.“There is colour change and water is salty and hard. People who take apartments on rent have become conscious about groundwater as they fear that water supply by KWA and tanker trucks could be affected soon,” said a real estate broker Johnson C.Residents depending on water supplied by tanker trucks have also raised concern about the quality of water being supplied. Though the district administration undertook the task of cleaning ponds and other water sources, there is no quality checking.“Both city authorities and people should know from where the tankers are sourcing water. The district administration should intensify checking of tanker trucks,” said Mini Priyadrashini, a government employee and a resident of Tripunithura.Meanwhile, tanker truck operators said that they have noticed receding water levels in wells and other water sources.“Compared with last March, water level has gone down by two to three rings,” said representative of Ernakulam district drinking water tankers’ welfare association P A Ali.Water to the city is sourced mainly from Aluva, Puthencruz, Kalamassery, Thiruvaniyoor, Kakkanad, Thiruvankulam and Tripunithura areas.“As of now, tanker trucks do not face any difficulties in sourcing water from Kochi’s suburbs. In the last summer, local bodies like Aluva municipality had issued stop memo and blocked tanker trucks from drawing water from their regions. If water level continues to drop, we could not rule out the possibility of such actions. It would further complicate the situation,” said Ali.

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