Tanker economics
The water tanker has come to symbolise Chennai's water crisis. From January to October this year, Chennai Metro Water hired private agricultural wells and engaged lorries to supply water as its sources ran dry. "We were supplying water only through lorries (not pipes),' says S Ranganathan, engineering director of Metro Water. The lorries were discontinued only after water arrived through the New Veeranam project in November.
Metro Water paid the farmers Rs 40 for every 10,000 litres and transport and delivery costs came to Rs 80 per kilolitre. The farmers are not amused. V Samantham, a farmer in Kannigaiperu village in the well field area, calculates his costs: "Selling water to Chennai doesn't earn me as much as cultivation. If I sell 15 tankers of water per day for three months, I get Rs 72,000. If I grow paddy on my 2.6 hectares, I earn Rs 1,30,000.' So why does he sell the water? Because Metro Water officials came to him and begged to quench Chennai's thirst