Some neighbourhoods of Salt Lake have been complaining of water shortage since last week but the authorities have swung into action.

“The water on my taps had reduced to a trickle since early last week,” said Siddhartha Das of CA Block. “We live in a two-storied house with seven members so it became difficult to manage. We had to buy water — 4,000l at Rs 700 — on Thursday. We would have had to buy again on Sunday but a neighbour, who was buying water on the day, gave us the surplus that wasn’t fitting his reservoir.”

Santayan Chowdhury, also of CA Block, has also been suffering. “We are just two people living in our house so have been managing without having to buy water but this is an annual problem. Every summer a water crisis arises as demand increases,” he said.

CA Block receives water from Tank 2 but the houses farthest from it, close to the EM Bypass, have always faced a problem as the pressure reduces significantly before the water reaches them. So a booster pumping station had been installed in the park to do the needful, and this is what had malfunctioned last week.

“All machines are susceptible to breakdowns and this shortage happened as the pump malfunctioned,” explained councillor Rajesh Chirimar on Monday. “It took four or five days for the same to be repaired and water supply shall now resume.”

The residents, however, felt the block needs a second booster pump on standby in cases of breakdowns. “We can pay subscription for it if need be, but taps at a modern township like Salt Lake cannot go dry,” said Das.

Keep ferrules clean

Some residents of CL Block have also been receiving less water but there the councillor says the issues are stray.

“We’ve been residents of Salt Lake since 2013 and despite minor shortages, we have never had to buy water till now,” said Susmita Chattopadhyay of CL Block. “We are more than 10 people living in our three-storey house but are extremely judicious about using water. Still, we faced such a crisis that we had to buy a tanker of water.”

When mayor and local councillor Krishna Chakraborty was informed, she said it was a local issue and that anyone with a problem should inform her immediately. “Residents should not panic and must get in touch with us instead of spreading rumours about water shortage,” she said, before sending workers over to look up the problem.

“Often, water shortage is only a matter of clogged ferrules. Residents must get their ferrules cleaned if they feel water supply has reduced and do so through the Corporation,” Chakraborty said. “Some residents get it done privately, and even increase the size of the ferrules illegally. This is unacceptable.”