KOCHI: City’s water requirement is such that it is met by water sourced from far off places and also neighbouring districts.A study conducted by SCMS Water Institute, Karukutty has revealed that the corporation region alone consumes 24 lakh litres of bottled water a day, and water is also brought from Malappuram, Thrissur, Palakkad and Kollam.According to the study Edappally region alone requires about 4.6 lakh litres of water every day.Increasing dependency on bottled water and water from other districts explain the severity of urban water scarcity. These are parallel systems where there is a little or no government control, when it comes to quality and quantity of water supplied.“The corporation depends on 512 tanker trucks on a 24x7 basis for steady supply of water. The tanker trucks ensure supply to apartment complexes, hotels, hospitals and educational institutions in the city. Tanker trucks source water from the eastern regions of the district. The city also relies on water brought in by the trucks from neighbouring districts of Thrissur and Alappuzha,” said limnologist and director of SCMS Water Institute Sunny George. This is apart from the available groundwater and water supplied by the Kerala Water Authority (KWA).Associate professor at SCMS Water Institute Ratish Menon, who collaborated in the study, said the city’s dependency on water sourced from outside had not been noticed or quantified by the administration or policy makers. “Lack of data is the main reason why this dependency is not visible to the public,” he said, adding that the sources and quantity of water supplied by trucks were unknown.Experts insist on the need for conducting water audits to understand the supply and demand of water in each region. “The sources will have to be brought under scrutiny to understand the need of water in a holistic fashion. There needs to be a micro-level analysis on sourcing and supply of water.Taking into account the resistance from people living in suburbs and neighbouring panchayats against sourcing water for supply in the city, Sunny George said: “Our cities must find alternative solutions to reduce dependency on water sourced from outside regions. Reduce, reuse, recycle shall be a solution with strict code of conduct for using the scarce resource.”

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