Sendivakkam School Takes Measures to Face Region’s Nearly Annual Drought Period

Alfredo Cuomo Higher Sec. School, Sendivakkam was completed in 2005 with a capacity of 750 students

Three years of rainfall deficits in the state of Tamil Nadu (South India) resulted in a severe drought during the summer of 2019.  On 19 June, the City Council of Chennai  declared the highly symbolic “Day 0”, the day on which—officially—no more water supply is available in the reservoirs. A long period of heat waves from May to June further heightened the situation, evaporating what little water remained in the reserves.

Thousands of children who attend daily the schools supported by the Cuomo Foundation in this region have also suffered from these extreme weather conditions. The Alfredo Cuomo Higher Sec. School, located in the remote and naturally dry region of Sendivakkam (100 km from Chennai), was among the school compounds affected by this situation.

In anticipation of the drought, which has now become an annual event, the Cuomo Foundation encouraged the school administration to implement adequate solutions. The one chosen was the drilling of a borehole. The structure is now under construction and will be ready this summer to relieve hundreds of schoolchildren and teachers of the school.

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