Ganga water supply to be disrupted till October 26

NOIDA: The Noida authority on Thursday said Ganga water supply will remain disrupted from October 3 to 26 in the city owing to cleaning work in the Upper Ganga Canal

NOIDA: The Noida authority on Thursday said Ganga water supply will remain disrupted from October 3 to 26 in the city owing to cleaning work in the Upper Ganga Canal that carries water to the city from Haridwar. The authority will supply groundwater to residents during the period.

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Currently, the total demand for water in Noida is 332 million litres per day (MLD). The authority is supplying 240 MLD Ganga water to residents and the remaining is procured through groundwater resources.

Cleaning of Upper Ganga canal, which originates from Haridwar and passes through Muzaffarnagar, Ghaziabad and Bulandshahr, is an annual affair. Residents face water problems each year during this period when the canal is cleaned.

The authority supplies 70% Ganga water and 30% groundwater in most of the areas across the city.

However, the authority is yet to start Ganga water supply to sectors 94, 126, 127, 128, 129, 130, 131, 132, 135, 150 and 151, among others— areas which are located between Yamuna embankment road and the Noida Expressway.

The authority will start mixing Ganga water with groundwater in these areas only after phase-3 of the project is over, which is likely to be completed by the end of 2020, officials said.

The authority will supply 100% groundwater until the cleaning work of the Upper Ganga Canal gets done.

Every year, during these months, the irrigation department cleans the canal and restores Ganga water supply after the work gets over. This time, the cleaning work will be over just on the day of Diwali (October 27).

“We aim to restore Ganga water supply a day before Diwali so that residents do not face any problem on the festival day. We will meet all of city’s water needs by procuring water from our reservoirs, which are filled with groundwater. We will ensure that the water supply during the canal cleaning period remains unaffected,” Avinash Tripathi, officer on special duty, Noida authority, said.

During the annual cleaning in the past, the authority had supplied drinking water in tankers to areas from where it was receiving complaints about a shortfall. Residents generally witness low water pressure in many areas during the Ganga canal cleaning period.

“We will ensure that all residents get good water supply in terms of quality and quantity as well,” Tripathi said.