Silt in Upper Ganga Canal disrupts water supply in Ghaziabad

Ghaziabad: The daily Ganga water supply in many areas of Ghaziabad has been affected since Sunday as the authorities in Haridwar have shut down the water supply to the Upper Ganga Canal and this in turn had led to the shutdown of two Ganga water treatment plants in Ghaziabad

Ghaziabad: The daily Ganga water supply in many areas of Ghaziabad has been affected since Sunday as the authorities in Haridwar have shut down the water supply to the Upper Ganga Canal and this in turn had led to the shutdown of two Ganga water treatment plants in Ghaziabad.

Ghaziabad, India - September 26, 2022: A view Uttar Pradesh Jal Nigam Urban 120 MLD Water Treatment Plant in Pratap Vihar, Ghaziabad, India, on Monday, September 26, 2022. (Photo by Sakib Ali /Hindustan Times)

The Pratap Vihar area in Ghaziabad has two water treatment plants which receive Ganga water supply from the Upper Ganga Canal and it is further supplied to Ghaziabad and Noida after treatment. Officials of Uttar Pradesh Jal Nigam said that both the plants have been shut and water supply has been affected in both the cities.

“The Upper Ganga Canal is entirely shut as there is a lot of silt after the recent heavy rains and the water supply to the canal has been stopped from Haridwar. It is expected that the silt will be cleared and water supply through the two plants will resume after 24 hours once the canal gets water from Haridwar. At present, Ganga water supply to both Noida and Ghaziabad has been affected,” said Unmesh Shukla, executive engineer, UP Jal Nigam, and in charge of the water treatment plants in Pratap Vihar.

“It is expected that it will take another day or two for the water supply to resume from Haridwar,” Shukla added.

One of the two plants has a capacity to treat 245 million litres per day (MLD) and it supplies about 20% treated Ganga water to Ghaziabad, while the rest goes to Noida. The other plant has a capacity of 120 MLD and 60% water from here goes to Ghaziabad, while the rest is allocated to Noida through a network of water pipelines, sources said.

“Water supply has been hampered for the past two days and it is estimated that there is a reduction of about 33% water supply in our locality. As a result, residents are stocking water since it is the festival season and usage has increased,” said Mohan Sangwan, a resident of Niti Khand in Indirapuram.

“About 40% of the water supply is affected here in Kaushambi. The Ganga water supply comes twice in a day —in the morning and evening. However, we are getting it only once in the morning. The corporation is providing water through borewells to tackle the short supply,” said VK Miittal, president, Kaushambi Apartments residents’ welfare association (RWA).

Municipal commissioner Nitin Gaur and general manager (water works) Anand Tripathi did not respond to calls on the arrangements made by the corporation to tackle the short supply of Ganga water.

Ghaziabad Development Authority (GDA) chief engineer Rakesh Kumar Gupta said, “The authority is using the tubewells in Indirapuram since the water treatment plants are shut at present”.