Workers told to shower less, hotels ration water for guests as reservoirs in India’s Chennai city dry up
- All four reservoirs in India’s southern city of Chennai have run dry this summer, largely because of poor monsoon rains last year
- Employees in some Chennai-based companies said they had been asked to cut back on water use in canteens and restrooms, while hotels face having to shut down
Hotels in capital city Chennai are rationing water for guests amid searing heat while companies limit showers as the city 4.6 million faces its worst shortage in years.
All four reservoirs that supply Chennai, known as the Detroit of South Asia for its flourishing automobile industry, have run dry this summer, largely because of poor monsoon rains last year.
Chennai is one of 21 cities that a government think-tank warned last year could run out of groundwater by 2020.
This year’s monsoon is delayed, further compounding problems across a swathe of western and central India.
Water storage levels in the city’s four major reservoirs were one-hundredth of what they were this time last year – and at a mere 0.2 per cent of capacity, according to state government data.