Jail Pettai residents complain of inadequate, muddy drinking water supply

Residents of Jail Pettai have been complaining of inadequate water supply and also of getting muddy drinking water in their homes

Residents of Jail Pettai have been complaining of inadequate water supply and also of getting muddy drinking water in their homes.

The water that is supplied on alternate days comes with silt that the residents fear may cause contamination. Also because of lack of proper distribution system, water stagnates at the bottom of the open sumps turning them into breeding ground for mosquitoes.

“The muddy water may cause diseases in children and also when it stagnates at the bottom of the sump, it becomes a health hazard,” said M. Suresh Kumar, 29, a resident.

Water supply is inadequate for the 300 families living in 288 houses in five blocks of four floors each. Though overhead tanks are in use, they are inadequate as each 500-litre tank is shared by two families and they have make with the water for two days.

“If we have a bigger capacity water tank that would solve our problem. But it has since been nine years since they built these houses and they haven’t found a solution for our water problem and delivered on their promises yet,” said P. Ravichandran, 54, of the Vivekananda Seva Sangam.

“Sometimes, the water from other sources tends to silt in the wells that deliver water to these sumps, and cleaning them regularly will solve the problem,” one of the senior officials of the Tiruchi Corporation told The Hindu.

A cleaning drive was being carried out in all the tenements, added a senior official of the Tamil Nadu Urban Habitat Development Board and said that the issues at Jail Pettai would be attended to by next week.