Chennai has been struggling with a bad spell of water shortage for almost two months now, with the last few days almost reaching a panic situation. The city is dependent upon four reservoirs – Poondi, Chembarambakkam, Puzhal and Cholavaram, whose present capacities have dipped below 1% of the demand. This is causing a huge worry for the nation as well as environmentalists across the world.
The latest to air his views about this tense situation, is Academy Award winner Leonardo DiCaprio, who took to social media and expressed concern over the deep crisis.
He captioned a picture of women trying to draw water from an empty well with the help of ropes while a dozen plastic pots lie on the sides of the well and wrote – “Only rain can save Chennai from this situation”.
He further added that the acute water shortage has forced the city to scramble to find solutions as residents are being forced to stand in queues to fill water. He also stated the water shortage faced by city hotels and restaurants, many of who have shut down temporarily.
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As against a requirement of around 850 Million litres of water per day, Chennai only has 525 Million litres of water as present-day supply.
DiCaprio is a keen environmentalist, and has spoken about climate change at the UN too. He has even produced several documentaries on related subjects. In 1998, he founded the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation, dedicated to promoting environmental awareness. The foundation aims at creating awareness and raises millions of dollars to help protect the environment.