Industry & Economy
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Water
Namakkal tankers ride Chennai `waterways'
Raja Simhan T.E.
Chennai
,
Sept. 10
LIQUID tanker owners in Namakkal, Salem, Sankakiri and Tiruchengode in south Tamil Nadu are a lot happy.
Reason, the water shortage in Chennai has provided them a regular stream of business in the last one year. So much so, that a number of owners, mostly having single vehicles, have diverted their oil or petroleum tankers to carry water for Chennai citizens.
The Chennai Metrowater supplies water to the city through 1,250 tankers. It brings water from places within a 100 km radius of the city, and more than half of these tankers are from Namakkal and its surrounding regions. Over 200 million litres of water is supplied to Chennai residences a day, and about 150 million litres is distributed through tankers, said a vehicle owner based in Namakkal. This year, the duration of the water tanker requirement was 20 per cent to 25 per cent more than the previous year, he said.
Tanker vehicle owners get a freight of 72 paise a km to transport water as compared to the market rate of Re 1 or Rs 1.10. Despite the low freight, owners are happy to carry water since their vehicles ply throughout the day and hence have regular business. For instance, a vehicle carrying petroleum can run about 10,000 km a month and an LPG (liquefied petroleum gas) tanker about 2,000 km a month. However, a water tanker can run about 18,000 km a month, the vehicle owner said.
Water to Chennai comes from well fields from places like Tamaraipakkam, Panjetty and Minjur. Further, tankers bring water from private wells in Mamandur and Pallur in the south and Gummidipoondi and Uthukottai in the north, he said.
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