7 tube wells pumping water, but Sukhna’s level is same as January 16
It’s almost a month of pumping water through seven tube wells into Sukhna Lake, the water level has not increased. Before pumping water, the level was 1,154 feet against the required 1,163 feet, but on Sunday the level was at 1,154 feet.
It’s almost a month of pumping water through seven tube wells into Sukhna Lake, the water level has not increased. Before pumping water, the level was 1,154 feet against the required 1,163 feet, but on Sunday the level was at 1,154 feet.
On January 16, the UT administration started the supply of water from seven tube wells to fill the Sukhna Lake and claimed that the water level will rise by 6-7 inches.
UT administration had already spent Rs 4 lakh in the past one month and even reduced the supply to Sectors 19, 20, 26 to 30 by 2 million gallons per day (MGD) (1 crore litre). The water, which is supplied to lake can cater to the needs of around 70,000 people, which means around 14,000 houses.
UT chief engineer, Mukesh Anand, said, “Initially the water level rose, but now it has not increased. For four days, tube well did not pump water into the lake as there was scarcity of water in the city. Also, the water has evaporated from the lake.”
MC Jindal, retired regional director, central ground water board, Chandigarh, said, “We knew that pumping water through tube wells into lake is not feasible. The best solution is that UT administration should utilise the water which flows seasonal rivulet Patiala ki Rao during monsoon period. This water presently is diverted from the choe to parts of Punjab.”
The decision was taken after Punjab and Haryana high court had asked UT administration to look for solution to increase water of Sukhna Lake. On this, UT chief engineer Mukesh Anand, had assured that the receding level of Sukhna can be filled by supplying water from seven tube wells, which are located near the lake during four months of winter season. System used during 1980s In late 1980’s, raw water used to be supplied from Sector 39 and 12 for irrigation purpose to northern sectors and during the Asian Rowing Championship in 1989, raw water connection was given to Sukhna Lake from pipeline already supplying the same to northern sectors.
But, after the availability of tertiary treated water in 1990, this system of supplying raw water to northern sectors was discontinued. Now, water pipeline, which was earlier supplying raw water from Sector 39 water works, is supplying potable water.
The high court had asked the Chandigarh administration to set up an independent authority for the preservation of Sukhna Lake, following which the decision was taken.
WHY WATER LEVEL GOES DOWN AT SUKHNA LAKE?
As per the report of the National Institute of Hydrology (NIH), Roorkee, one of the major reasons for the loss of water in the lake was evaporation. Poor rainfall leads to low water level. The water-holding capacity of the lake has also drastically reduced due to sand deposits.
