Where does "good" water come from?

Sama

This question arises from my "taking showers in India" thread...

Auntyji is in Chennai right now and she said that there is salt in the groundwater, so there are problems with washing clothes, brushing teeth, etc. She said some places buy "good" water.

My question is, where does the "good" water come from? That is, where is there a supply of fresh water, other than groundwater? For example, how would all the hotels supply their guests with non-salty water? Are there deep wells? Do people drill deeper? just curious...

By the way, just yesterday I heard this is becoming a problem in the US (the groundwater becoming salty), too, especially along the Gulf of Mexico and the East Coast.

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beach

There are many lakes with fresh water. Also rivers and manmade canals and the likes.
Then there's red hills nearby with waterbodies

Also when the problem is serious 'amma' screams at Karnataka to open the tap on Cavery

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Nick-H

Hotels may have a purification plant, the smaller ones will buy it (as do many houses) from tankers.

There is Metro (local water authority) water as well as the ground water, but, to many people the supply is limited (eg every other day) and the pressure is low, it needs to be pumped from the pipes. Where the supply is failing, they send round tankers.

Auntieji will be along in a minute (I hope) to tell all about it.

But the really good water, for drinking, comes in bottles and cans.

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crvlvr

yogaggal, thats like askign where the drinking water in the US comes from. India is a large country. Most cities have their own sources of water. Some of them have multiple sources. the ttap water will taste different from city to city. People resort to wells and bore wells when the city cannot provide siufficient water. In some cases, households can buy truckloads of water that is delivered to the door.

Depending on the source, the water can be good or bad.

AvidTrekker

Your question pertains to Chennai.... since you are likely to be staying there.

The Good water will be purchased FOR DRINKING ONLY.

Even five star hotels give the same general quality of hard water for other purposes like "bathing".

Till the filling up of the POONDI reservoir last year, Chennai had a MAJOR water shortage problem. [thanks to some noble people in a charitable trust and certainly NOT the Govt. of TamilNadu; this "mostly empty" reservoir was diverted water from a river in neighboring Andhra Pradesh] Even now, there is a shortage... but now its not so acute.

In these circs, asking for soft water for a shower means you will be buying mineral water bottles for showers. Quite expensive.

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Sama

That was my question exactly, since I do not know Indian geography! I did not know if there were lakes, rivers, whatever, close to Chennai to get fresh water. For instance, my suburb is too far from Lake Michigan to get lake water, so the cities in my county have to drill wells. People who live even farther out do not have access to "city water" so they have their own wells. My area is experiencing a severe drought, and in fact, most of the counties in Illinois have been declared "disaster areas" in order to get federal aid. So people very close to me, their wells are totally dry, because of the drought, and they have to drill deeper wells, which costs thousands of dollars.

so thanks for the answers!