Farmers in Coimbatore are shocked as for the first time ever in the history of Coimbatore, water supply from the Siruvani dam has been stopped for the last one week. Senior corporation officials confirmed to The Times of India that they had stopped the water supply.
Coimbatore corporation commissioner K Vijaya Kathikeyan has asked all the residents to use water judiciously.
Medical facilities are also facing problems. A 38-year-old man who suffered a fracture in an accident last week has been awaiting surgery due to lack of water at the operation theatre in Coimbatore Medical College Hospital. There are many others in the 16 operation theatres waiting for surgery.
A surgeon told The New Indian Express that they had six scheduled surgeries for Wednesday but by morning, they were only done with just three surgeries and the water ran out.
However, this situation was informed to the hospital authorities and they arranged for some water. But the water crisis continues and the surgeries are being postponed again.
CMCH requires five lakh litres of water on a daily basis with a minimum requirement of three lakh litres.
CMCH dean, Edwin Joe told TNIE that they are conducting all emergency operations and are rescheduling those that are elective. They are looking to dig a borewell at Valankulam Tank.
The Siruvani water scheme was implemented in Coimbatore in 1929 and this is the first time that the supply has been completely stopped. A water supply engineer of Coimbatore corporation told TOI that usually the dam goes dry in April, but water still was supplied to the city. Water was pumped from below the dead storage until the city received rainfall. This is the first time that the city is facing an acute water crisis, that too in January.
The city had received water from Siruvani river for the first time on April 29, 1929, implemented when CS Rathinasabapathy Mudaliar became the chairman of the Coimbatore municipality, reported TOI.