According to a report in the Times of India, utility supplier Metrowater is sourcing approximately 30 million litres of drinking water per day from 22 inactive quarries 18km north of Chennai, at Sikkarayapuram, in the Kanchipuram district, in Tamil Kadu state.
The quarries are located right next to the Chembarambakkam reservoir, one of Chennai's four drinking water sources. Between them, the quarries over the years have collected around three billion litres of rainwater that runs 15m deep. The volume equates to six days of water supply in Chennai.
According to the Times of India report, Metrowater has been working on the construction of a 2.5km pipeline at the quarry sites at a cost of 11.8 crore rupees (AUD$247,354).
The pipeline will reportedly snake through the 22 quarries and enter a trench under the city to reach the Chembarambakkam reservoir.
Water will then be pumped from the quarries and transferred through the pipeline to a Chembarambakkam treatment plant before being distributed to Chennai’s residents.
The district’s groundwater reserves were severely depleted after floods in Chennai in December 2015. Multiple experts have agreed the floods were a man-made disaster; as the city's waterways were turned into plots of land for construction, excess water from the Chembarambakkam reservoir flooded the southern parts of the city. It has been estimated that the city lost three years worth of water supply to the sea during this time.
In May this year, Metrowater warned in a media release that groundwater in the city’s four reservoirs were fast depleting and urged residents to use water ‘judiciously’.
The water supply from the 22 quarries was activated at the beginning of June.
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