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India's Chennai Rapid Growth Threatened by Water Shortages

Associated Press

   CHENNAI, INDIA - Dozens of billion-dollar companies. Thousands of
   high-paying IT and manufacturing jobs. Luxury apartments towering over
   the Bay of Bengal. The southern Indian city of Chennai has one of the
   world's fastest-growing economies, but it's out of water, threatening
   to put a brake on all that growth.

   In Chennai, a coastal city of about 10 million and the capital of Tamil
   Nadu state, rapid development and rampant construction have overtaxed a
   once-abundant natural water supply, forcing the government to spend
   huge sums to desalinate sea water, bring water by train from hundreds
   of kilometers (miles) away and deploy an army of water trucks to people
   whose household taps have suddenly run dry.

   The water shortfall is disrupting business at all levels, from the
   gleaming, 45-kilometer (28-mile) IT Corridor to the neighborhood tea
   shop. Some workers have been asked not to report to the office while
   others have had to give up a day's wages to wait for the erratic water
   truck that makes daily deliveries.

   The Madras Chamber of Commerce, named for what British colonialists
   called the city, said that results from a survey sent to its 700
   members in May found that most industries in the city's diversified
   economy have been affected by the crisis, which has caused disruptions
   in production schedules, higher operation costs and a reluctance to
   invest in expansion because of the uncertainty about future water
   supplies.

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