EDITOR S NOTE: This article is part of a series produced under the India Climate Journalism Program, a collaboration between The Associated Press, the Stanley Center for Peace and Security and the Press Trust of India.
Anthony Kuttappassera's family has lived in the same house at the edge of the Arabian Sea for more than a century. He grew up drinking water from the pond and the well outside his home.
Rising seas from climate change is bringing saltwater into freshwater supplies in India, where less than half the population can access clean drinking water. In Chellanam increased salinity in the aquifer has forced residents to retrieve freshwater by hand.