The malls in the city have started rationing water, while restaurants have cut down their business hours, the water shortage is slowly crippling the hospitality industry.
The malls in the city have started rationing water, while restaurants have cut down their business hours, the water shortage is slowly crippling the hospitality industry. A popular mall in South Chennai has reduced its water consumption by 30%. “We have reduced by one-third the flow from taps, which would have otherwise released 7.5 litres a minute. This has been brought down to 2.5 – 3 litres a minute,” staff at the mall said.
The desperate measures were taken in the light of water supply by tankers being hit due to depleting water resources in Kancheepuram and Tiruvallur districts. While a few restaurants delay their opening time due to the water crisis, some are forced to skip their peak hours after tankers failed to supply water. Tapan Agarwal, director of a chain of restaurants, said one of their branches in Velachery had to discontinue services during lunch for two days. “Ten days ago, our regular supplier failed to deliver and repeated attempts to source water also turned a futile exercise because of the prevailing water crisis. So, we could not offer lunch for two days,” he added. Approximately 8,000 restaurants with different seating capacity ranging from 100 to 300 are operating in Chennai and suburbs. The total volume of water required by these restaurants is 156 million litres a day.
Chennai Hotels Association president M Ravi said water tankers have tripled their charges. “A 36,000-litre capacity tanker, which used to supply for Rs. 3,000, has now increased the price threefold. In a bid to reduce the dependence on water, several restaurants have shifted to disposable cups and plates,” he said.
