We are an apartment of 76 flats located at Chennai and water has been a perennial expenditure to us.  We have 7 borewells (2 jet pump and 5 compressor driven ) which is been often attended by our association-appointed plumbers to hear various versions from each of them.

The details are as below:

 1. Number of occupants in the complex - 380 to 400 (approximately a family of 5)
2. Consumption of water per day in the complex - 50,000lts per day (tankers, metro water and borewells put together)
3. Quantity of water being brought in via tankers - 12,000lt per tanker
4. Quantity of water obtained from borewells - approximately 5,000lts.
5. Rain Water Harvesting has been implemented ( 8 pits of 8sq.ft towards rain water harvesting - 3-4 pits dug close to a borewell). No gray water recycling initiative is implemented.

Our flat is almost 20 years old  and has seven blocks from A-H with number of flats ranging from 4 to 16 in each block.  Each block has a ground floor plus 3 floors and a oper terrace above third floor.  All pipelines are connected underground as per the corporation guidelines.  And our issues also include the pressure of water reaching the 2nd and 3rd floor which is either very less or the occupants do not get water at all.

Our area has become a commercial zone off late with number of hotels and other offices on the rise.  We are not sure if this is one reason where our bores go dry very fast We buy tankers (2-4) everyday to meet our consumption and infact our metro water connection also is of no much use though we have applied for the 2nd connection to reduce the over-burdened expenses on tankers.

Can someone suggest how could we tackle the problem as the cost on water takes most of our hard earned money which is frustrating.

I would be happy to provide any details required in this regard.

Anusha Padmanabhan
padmanabhan_anusha@hotmailcom