Chennai, the sixth largest city in India, is going through a severe drought and a water crisis.A photo feature by Steevez Rodriguez and the PEP Collective highlights the stark situation in Chennai.They follow the water as it is pumped out from the reservoirs that are almost fully dry to the tanker points where it is supplied to the residents.When the residents of Chennai struggle for water, their compatriots in Mumbai were flooded with excess rain over two days. With climate change extreme weather events such as these are expected to become more frequent and intense. Reports have come in that by 2020, about 21 major Indian cities would run out of ground water. But Chennai has fast-forwarded itself to 2020 already and has little or no groundwater available for the people to use. With monsoon failing in 2018, little rain through 2019, inadequate and inefficient water distributing and storage system, concrete construction covering most of the land area across the city not allowing rain water to seep underneath, rising population density have all added up to this catastrophe. Like most global citizens, Chennai’s own too have overlooked the adverse effects of climate change that looms large over everyone with every passing day. A faster rate of “development” promised by governments has speeded up the level of destruction. With every possible reservoir dried out and depleting ground water levels across city, people have finally woken up to see the calamity they face. Metrowater (the government agency supplying water to the city) lorries are the only source of water running around the city. With large tanker lorries and smaller trucks with Sintex water tanks loaded, the city tries to meet its water needs with the multiple trips these vehicles make through the day. On average, the filling station starts to function by around 5 am every morning and pushes upto 2 am in the night. The smaller trucks are an emergency measure to tackle the water shortage and are employed on a contract basis. Many hotels, restaurants, schools, colleges were shut down for a few days as they were not able to meet their requirements. Information technology companies with their big buildings and a high number of employees aggregated at a single place, have given their staff members the option of working from home. Most of the apartments function with a daily routine of water discharge. The situation has gone on to become a grim joke, with biryani sellers luring in customers by giving them freebies of the most wanted commodity: Water. Chembarambakkam lake is the major reservoir that provided water to people of Chennai. With this and other water sources like Poondi, Cholavaram, Puzhal lakes dried up, the intensity of the crisis is clear. Photo by Palani Kumar/PEP Collective. Water tankers are used mainly to distribute water to apartments, large offices and other bigger buildings for a price. Smaller tanks are hired on a contract basis to distribute water directly to people. Photo by Steevez Rodriguez/PEP Collective. A Metrowater tank is filled with water at the filling station. These are the only lifeline for citizens of Chennai. They make multiple trips through the day filling at metro stations and distributing them across to various places. Photo by Steevez Rodriguez/PEP Collective. Metrowater lorry drivers rest for the night outside a water filling station. The increasing crisis has led to more drivers being employed on a contract basis. Photo by Steevez Rodriguez/PEP Collective.
