After the Water Session, a Reservoir City Rations by the Hour

CHENNAI — The emergency water session that the Global Concordat Council opened on 22 July has adjourned, and in this coastal megacity the practical result is a schedule taped inside a stairwell. Municipal supply now runs in two two-hour windows a day, down from three, the city's water board confirmed Sunday. The Oceanic & Atmospheric Assembly attributes the squeeze to a monsoon that arrived late and thin across South Asia, leaving three continents' reservoirs below the levels that alarmed ministers into session. Tethys Hydrous Group, which operates the desalination plants feeding the northern wards, says its intake runs at capacity but cannot make up the shortfall alone. "The council talked for a week and we are still counting minutes," said Meena Rajan, who fills four jerrycans during the morning window for a household of nine in the Kodungaiyur district. Secretary-General Ingrid Halvorsen has promised a follow-up review in the autumn. The stairwell schedule, residents note, was written in permanent marker.