Parched Chennai finally gets water on train

Chennaites finally heaved a sigh of relief as the first train carrying water from Jolarpet near Vellore arrived in Chennai last week carrying 2.7 million liters of water in its 50 wagons. According to officials, this transportation of water to Chennai, will continue for the next six months. During this period, the train with water-carrying wagons, which has been brought from Rajasthan, is to ferry up to 11 million litres of water everyday from Jolarpet. The transportation cost is estimated at Rs 867,000 for each trip and the state government has allocated a sum of £6.5 million for the project. From Villivakkam station, the pipelines will carry the water to the water processing unit in Kilpauk before it is released for public consumption. Water scarcity has forced the Chennai Metro Water authorities to reduce supply from the usual 840 MLD to 525 MLD, especially after major water sources fully dried up.